The Mechanical Hero
by Volatile Pyromaniac
Summary: Izuku could barely remember his father, but he had been told that he had inherited his intelligence, analytical skills, and his vibrant green, sharp eyes. He had also inherited his quirk; Transmutation. He had the ability to transform his body into anything he wished. But with the blood of one of the most frightening villains running through his veins, could he truly become a hero?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So this is my first BNHA Fic, and the first fic I've written in a long time. I hope that you enjoy!**

* * *

SLAM.

A boy with a mop of blond, unruly hair found himself smacking against a hard surface, bouncing off, and skidding against the concrete. The boy barely had time to feel tears well up in his eyes before he felt calloused appendages wrapping themselves around his throat, a rough hand hoisting him up from his previous position on the sidewalk.

Red eyes widened, a choking, and gargling noise coming from one Katsuki Bakugo's throat as he attempted to desperately suck oxygen into his burning lungs. The impact had knocked the wind out of him, and with the hand wrapped around his throat, cutting off his air, he found his lungs to be desperately craving something he could no longer attain.

The person who had picked up the child was still only a child himself, a boy around twelve with midnight raven hair, an angular face, and an averagely built body. "Where the fuck do you think you're going, brat!?" He questioned aggressively, his hand tightening further around the young Bakugo's throat.

Instead of panic, or fear in the blond boy's eyes, the black-haired offender only saw anger. Those eyes quickly narrowing, and an aggressive growl escaping the blond's throat. Distinctly, they both heard a small, panicked scream of "KACCHAN!" The older boy paid it no mind, but Bakugo quickly became angrier. He could handle this, but his timid best friend, Midoriya Izuku, couldn't.

He didn't want his friend in the world of pain he was currently in. He raised both his hands up, aiming them at the offender's face, he flailed them madly in a desperate attempt to get himself free. His struggles only seemed to amuse the older boy, who laughed at his pathetic attempts.

The blond didn't know what overtook him, he raised a hand towards the black-haired boy's face, his hand deathly still as he let out a loud scream.

"DIE!"

The sweat on his palms bubbled for a fraction of a second before violently exploding. Although the explosion didn't cause any severe damage to the older boy, the shock, and the flash of light had been enough to concuss him, making him drop the blond boy onto the floor, gripping his stinging eyes.

"KACCHAN!" He heard that damn scream again, and the thudding of footsteps only got louder.

He tilted his head back, watching his best friend sprint at his offender, his arm having changed, growing metallic, and gaining a texture that is only seen on rebar.

The four-year-old Midorya slammed into the person who had assaulted his best friend, his hardened hand impacting painfully against the attacker's liver, and making him double over in pain.

"LET'S GO!" Izuku shouted at Bakugo, motioning for him in a panicked manner. Stunned not only by his display of a quirk but by Izuku's as well, it took him a minute to respond, but he quickly got to his feet, and the two boys quickly ran off before the older boy could recover.

It had taken them a few minutes, but the pair eventually found their way to Izuku's home. They had not stopped running, terrified of the older boy catching up to them. The moment that adrenaline stopped coursing through their young veins, the pair crumpled, bending over, and wheezed desperately in an attempt to catch their breath.

A few moments later, their labored breathing had slowed considerably, and Izuku was the first of them to break the silence.

"KACCHAN! YOUR QUIRK MANIFESTED!" The curly haired boy shouted with unrestrained excitement, his voice filled with glee for his friend.

The blond's chest puffed up in no small amount of pride, grinning at Izuku.

"Psh, yours did too, and you're the one that managed to knock him on his ass!"

Midoriya paused, staring at his friend with a sense of awe. "…I did?"

Bakugo merely rolled his eyes. Who would have thought that Deku, the biggest hero fanboy in existence, would not realize that he had finally taken the first step to achieve his dream; manifest his quirk. "Look at your arm, dumbass." He said, mirth filling his tone.

Midoriya looked down, and sure enough, his arm had undergone a very noticeable change. Flesh and bone had disappeared, replaced with heavy, rugged rebar. Almost his entire arm had changed, the transformation to the heavy rod of steel reaching just beneath his elbow, even his fingers had undergone the change, he noticed, his joints and ligaments replaced with swiveling metal.

He tried moving his fingers and the metal creaked in protest, his fingers responded sluggishly as the metal curled at a slow rate.

A look of shell-shock crossed Izuku's face.

He had done it, he had manifested his quirk!

He swiveled around sharply, adrenaline once again coursing through his veins as he rushed up the steps, his friend momentarily forgotten as he slammed his hand against the door, metal thudding against the wooden surface as he excitedly and erratically knocked.

Midoriya Inko opened the door not a moment later, a green-haired woman that was nearing her thirties, the woman looking quite annoyed with whoever had disturbed her peace. Her eyes widened as she took in the form of her son, his metallic hand still outstretched. She slammed into him, wrapping him into a tight embrace as tears of joy streamed down her pristine white skin.

"MY BABY!" She squealed, "YOU DID IT!"

"I DID IT~!" The young Izuku squealed happily, and Inko hoisted her boy up into the air, hugging him tightly against her chest. His own tears of joy beginning to seep out of his green eyes.

She raised him up into the air, giving him a wide grin, sniffling softly as tears still softly trickled down her features.

"You know what that means, Izuku?" She uttered playfully.

"I'M GOING TO BE A HERO!" He squealed once again in response, and she hugged him close to her chest once again.

Bakugo gave a deadpan stare.

Man, the Midoriyas were a bunch of fucking crybabies… Even then though, he still couldn't help but feel warmth and happiness fill his chest at the prospect of him and his best friend growing together, and fighting alongside one another, becoming the top heroes of their generation.

He turned around slowly, careful not to interrupt the moment between the mother and child, as he walked away.

* * *

The rest of the day went by like a blur for the young Midoriya. He didn't know how, or when it happened, but he eventually found himself seated on the couch, still admiring his metallic arm as he waited for his mother to finish cooking dinner. The delicious smell of katsudon wafted through the room, and kept the young boy eagerly bouncing in place.

For some reason, the young boy felt that he was hungrier than usual, like he hadn't eaten in days. It only made him all the more eager to enjoy his favorite meal.

He didn't know when it happened, but eventually the novelty of having his quirk had worn off. He stared at the hand, his green eyes no longer filled with awe, but with curiosity. He flexed his fingers once again, noting how they shifted uncomfortably-unnaturally-in their transformed state, metal grinding against metal making for a low squeaking sound as he moved his joints-If they could even be called that anymore.

"….Mom?" The young boy called out, uncertainty filling his voice.

"YES HONEY?" His mother's voice rang out, loud and as sweet as ever.

"How…How do I turn it off?" He questioned.

"OH, THAT'S SIMPLE HONEY, YOU JUST…" She paused momentarily, then cursed under her breath.

How DID he turn it off?

Well, it looked like it was time to make a visit to the quirk doctor. Izuku had to go get his quirk registered, anyway.

* * *

And so, after a filling dinner, the pair found themselves in a doctor's office. An overweight, friendly looking man with a bushy mustache, and a shaved head staring curiously at the small boy. Izuku was sitting in an oversized swiveling chair, and his mother stood by idly for support, the quirk doctor leaned in closely to inspect the metallic arm of the young boy.

"Well…" The doctor started, "It's certainly a unique quirk, that's for sure." He stated. "Usually, transformation- or as you probably know them- Body enhancement type quirks don't usually manifest so strongly, especially not at such a young age." He uttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Izuku blushed at the praise, and his mother beamed at the doctor.

His hand reached for a small clipboard laying atop his desk. The doctor peered over it once more. "Hmm…" He hummed, "His quirk factor is rather high, which could explain how strongly it manifested. But from what I see, it's more than just a simple 'Hardening' quirk. Those require constant concentration to maintain… You seem to require that only at the preliminary stages."

"Say, my boy. What did you feel when you activated your quirk? What exactly did you think of?"

Izuku fiddled nervously in his chair, idly scratching at his metallic hand. "I just wanted to be tough enough to defend Kacchan!"

He tilted an eyebrow at the name, but didn't comment on it, simply letting the boy continue.

"I was looking around, and I saw a piece of metal lying around… It was the toughest thing I could see, and I was wishing that I could be that tough."

He quirked a brow once again, strong emotional experiences were what it usually took to trigger a quirk, or cause it to manifest, but for the boy to manifest his quirk in a way that resembled something around him?

Oh it was much more than an ordinary hardening quirk, that was for sure. The doctor had a small hunch, and he'd have to test it to be sure. He simply * _had_ * to sate his curiosity. Sure, he saw quirks of all kinds on a daily basis, but such a strong quirk manifestation in a four-year-old boy? It was simply unheard of.

Unless, of course, hardening, or simple body enhancement wasn't his quirk at all.

"Izuku," He started softly, and pointed at a nearby medical bed, more specifically, he had pointed towards the metallic railings that had made up the metallic base that supported the bed "I want you to look at that, and think of the exact thing you thought while you were saving your friend, okay?" He uttered and locked his gaze onto the boy.

Izuku nodded quickly, and with not a small amount of excitement. He gazed at the metallic railings carefully, taking in how they looked, how smooth the stainless-steel surface was, and its rough diameter.

He sucked in a deep breath-and surely enough-The very tips of his fingers on his untransformed hand began to glow.

The doctor sucked in a large breath as he saw the boy's fingertips transform right before his eyes, flesh and bone disappearing, giving way to hard metal. The boy didn't get very far with his transformation, as he had barely managed to transform his fingers to the first knuckle before the glowing stopped, and Izuku leaned forward, his breathing heavy and shallow.

The older man gently grabbed hold of Izuku's hand, using his free hand to lift off his greenish goggles, so he could take a better look at the transformed digits.

"Amazing…" He spoke out faintly, before managing to collect his composure. "Young man, your quirk, it is-"

And then suddenly, Midoriya Inko, who had kept quiet for most of the appointment made her presence known.

"-TRANSMUTATION!" She blurted out suddenly, making Izuku jump in his seat, and giving the doctor quite a startle.

The man gave her an inquisitive look, his gaze simply begging for an explanation from the woman.

She blushed deeply, now embarrassed by her sudden outburst. "His quirk.. I mean. His quirk is transmutation."

When his curious eyes didn't relent, she explained further. "He can… C-Change his body's composition, transforming-Or transmuting it into whatever he desires as long as he knows the chemical composition, and the rough dimensions."

The doctor gave her a blank look. "And how do you know this exactly?"

Her cheeks reddened further, but she still spoke. "I.. Well.. It was my Husband's quirk." She uttered softly, as her eyes took on a nostalgic tone.

Izuku looked at his mother in amazement, while the older man simply gave her a deadpan stare. "And why didn't you mention any of this in the first place?" He said, annoyance clear in his tone as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It didn't.." She paused, trying to look for the right words to describe her point. "My husband couldn't use it in the same way that Izuku had."

The doctor nodded, and she continued.

"He had to focus if he wanted to maintain the transformation. Which is why he never got really far with it, but Izuku doesn't have to. That's why I thought a different enhancement quirk had mutated in him. He wasn't born with his arm looking like this, so it couldn't be a mutation quirk either."

His eyes widened with a sense of curiosity. "How do you know so much about quirks?"

"My husband was…" She bit down on her bottom lip nervously. "He used to research quirks quite a bit, and when you spend so long around somebody like that, you sort of pick some things up." She said with a nervous chuckle.

"Why didn't you simply show the boy to your husband then?" He asked, with genuine curiosity filling his tone. The doctor quickly cleared his throat when he saw the distant, hurt look in both of their eyes.

"Nevermind-" He said swiftly. "Now, Izuku!" He said, his tone filling with mirth and warmth once again. "Since we now know what your quirk is, and we have a name for it, I think we're done here." He said, ruffling the boy's green curly hair.

"But doctor!" The freckled boy whined "I don't know how to turn it off!"

"Oh! Well, in most cases with enhancement type quirks, you simply have to relax your body, and stop concentrating on that one spot. But, since your case is so unique, I'm going to wager that something so simple won't work."

"Try the opposite of what you had to do to manifest. So think about the fact that you're safe now, or that your task had been completed!"

Izuku breathed in sharply, and closed his eyes, following what the doctor told him. With a bright glow, the metallic appendages had swiftly transmuted back to flesh and skin, almost instantly, in fact.

The doctor smiled, settling the green goggles back over his eyes, staring as both Midoriya's had their chests puffed with pride as they slowly, but confidently strode their way out of his office.

He sighed deeply as he sat back into his chair, "Amazing quirk, strange kid. I'm sure I'll see plenty of him in the future…" He trailed off, before leaning a hand over his intercom, fingering hovering right over the button that would send in his next patient.

He stopped just short of pressing the button, his hand instead moving to grasp the clipboard once again. He swiftly produced a pen, jotting a few small notes at the bottom of the page. He'd have to ask the receptionist to mail this to the Midoriya family.

However small a role he could play, he wanted to help the child grow. The boy was brought to him from the moment he could speak, and ever since then, Izuku had wanted to be a hero.

It might have been too early to tell, but the sheer determination, the sheer will in his eyes.

Izuku would grow to accomplish great things, that much he was sure of.

* * *

A small blond boy found himself at the familiar front steps of his friend's home. He jumped up the steps quickly, as he did every day, and practically slammed his fist against the door, abusing the wooden barrier that had kept his friend from him.

"Coming!" He heard a feminine voice call out, and not a few seconds later, the door opened to reveal a disheveled looking Inko, her hair looking much more messy than usual. The stained apron around her waist told Bakugo that he had probably pulled the woman away while she was cooking breakfast.

Her face brightened upon seeing the small boy.

"Hey, Baku-chan!" She smiled warmly, leaning over and ruffling his hair. He didn't allow anybody to touch his hair or invade his comfort zone. Not even his relatives got away with that. But... Inko-Obasan simply radiated warmth, everything from the kind smile on her face, to the way she gently, but affectionately held him. It made him feel… Well, nice.

He'd let her touch him, he decided. But only this one time!

Of course, he made the same decision every single day, but that was besides the point.

"Izu-chan is inside!" She exclaimed, her voice carrying the same warmth that her smile held. Her bright smile was suddenly replaced with worry, as she started to fuss over the small boy.

"Are you hungry?" She questioned, "I was just in the middle of making breakfast!"

Was he hungry? Yes. He was so excited about the fact of playing together with Izuku using their quirks that he had completely forgotten all about breakfast. Was he about to tell her though? Hell no.

"I already ate." He lied, and she didn't believe him one bit.

"Bakugo." She said, disappointment marring her voice. He sighed and spoke through gritted teeth. "Fine!"

Immediately, her expression of worry was wiped away, replaced with a happy, mirthful smile. "Come on in!"

'Well' Bakugo decided inwardly 'Izuku looks like death'

The small boy deep, dark bags under both of his eyes, his hair was more of a mess than normal, that, and he looked pale, unusually so. Not to mention, he seemed to be staring off into the distance, his eyes unfocused and hazy.

Bakugo could even swear that he looked thinner than he was yesterday.

"What happened to you?" He asked in a brunt manner.

"OH!" Izuku's eyes lit up in recognition. "Hey Kacchan!"

"I've literally been staring at you for the last five minutes hoping that you'd notice me. What. Happened?"

"Well, Since I manifested my quirk yesterday, I had been trying all night to summon it, But it takes ages just to get my fingertips transformed, and even then it takes a lot of out of me. So I went online and started researching quirks, and the different things that they do, particularly enhancement quirks and how they work. It helped me a little bit, but it didn't make that much of a difference, I could only do it slightly faster, and it seemed to be faster the more I did it, but it takes a lot of energy, and I feel really hungry, and it's going to take a while before I eve-"

"NERD!" Bakugo cut him off, anger dancing in his crimson eyes.

Izuku promptly stopped.

"You're mumbling. Again."

Izuku blushed in response, even the redness of his cheeks seemed to be rather pale. He raised a hand to his hair, scratching at it sheepishly.

"Sorry… You know how I get."

"Repeat. Slower." Katsuki demanded.

"I spent all night trying to practice my quirk and didn't sleep."

Bakugo threw both of his hands in the air in frustration "Why couldn't you say that in the first place!?"

"D-didn't you?" Izuku stuttered.

"Didn't I what?!" Bakugo snapped.

"Practice your quirk."

"…No?"

"And you want to be a hero? Idiot."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY, DEKU!?"

"YOU CAN'T BE A HERO WITHOUT PRACTICE, BAKA-GO"

"I'LL SHOW YOU, DEKU!" He extended his palm out, aiming it in Izuku's direction, and immediately, the sweat on his palms began to bubble.

Izuku immediately extended a fist in front of him, the tips of his fingers beginning to glow.

"BOYS. BREAKFAST IS READY!" Shouted Inko from the kitchen, immediately causing both boys to halt as their stomachs growled in unison.

They both narrowed their eyes at each other and each extended an accusing finger.

"Later." They both hissed, and swiftly made their way to the kitchen.

* * *

 _A few years later_

He could feel his heart beating harshly in his chest as he was inched closer and closer to his destination, his veins throbbed painfully in his neck, as eager as he was, Izuku was also very nervous. His birthday presents were never required this much preparation, but his mother deemed it appropriate to blindfold him before leading him to his present, which meant that it was probably something very special.

He resisted the urge to raise a hand up, and rip the black fabric away from his eyes, but he didn't want to anger his mother, after all, she had insisted on him wearing it. Inko had led him only a few steps from the living room before he accidentally slammed his foot against something- A wooden step- His excitement however, far outweighed the pain, and he so much as flinch.

His mother let out a hurried apology, excitement still palpable in her tone even as she tried to seem as apologetic as possible, she was probably just as excited as he was.

He was led up the steps with minimal incidents afterwards, and a few moments later, he felt his mother's grip tighten on his shoulder. He halted in his tracks. He heard the distinctive sound of metal clicking against metal. (A sound he had grown quite accustomed to from practicing and working on his quirk so often.) He heard his mother fumble with what he only assumed were keys. His hunch was quickly proven correct as he heard the click of a door being unlocked.

His mother pushed on his shoulder again, and he was hurriedly pushed inside the room. He heard his mother suck in a deep breath, before the blindfold was all but yanked from his young eyes.

Before him, lay what could only be called a treasure trove to the young Midoriya. It was a medium sized room, one which he had never entered before. There was a large, mahogany desk on the opposite side of the room, the desk still lined with papers, books, and a few notebooks. A well decorated fountain pen, and a small metallic ink holder than had dried long ago.

Mahogany bookshelves lined the walls of the room, there were four in total, the two on the right-hand side were filled with books of all shapes and sizes, while the ones on the left hand sized were lined with small notebooks.

The room hadn't been used in many years, but still held a pristine sheen to it, his mother had, after all, religiously cleaned, and upheld the room even in his father's absence, however, he had never examined the contents of the room itself.

The green haired boy hurried over, curious to see just what his father had lined his shelves with. Much to his surprise, and his excitement, the books were all related to a singular subject; Quirks.

Izuku's eyes were practically glowing as he gazed over the titles of the books. "Quirk Theory", "Quirks And Biology" were some of the ones he first laid eyes on, they looked fairly new, and he quickly saw some older, leather-bound books that had to be decades old. "Quirks; The First Major Step in Human Evolution".

He could barely contain his excitement, bouncing in place as he went to the mahogany desk , picking up the small stack of notebooks that were atop it and flipping through the titles.

"Quirk Theory" and "Quirk Analysis #32" were at the very top of the stack, he squealed in glee. That was just like his Hero Analysis notebooks! A warmth flooded through his chest as he realized he had inherited some of his father's traits.

His mother didn't mention his father often. Only that he worked "Somewhere far and safe". She had likened him to his father on more than one occasion, claiming that he had inherited not only his father's eyes, but his analytical skills, and his intelligence as well.

He shook his head before that train of thought went on for any longer. His father was… A touchy subject for him.

He focused on the notebooks once more, some of them had all-encompassing titles like "Enhancement Quirks #9" But some quirks were notable, or even complex enough to get their notebook. He found only four such examples on the stack that had occupied his father's desk.

The first notebook was titled "Quirk: Void". Young green eyes widened at that, his mind drifting through all the possibilities of what a quirk like that could do.

The second one was labeled "Quirk: One For All". He chuckled at that, its name was rather cheesy, but noble. Almost something like his favorite hero All-Might would exclaim. He would definitely have to give that one a read later, he decided.

The third was simply called "Quirk: Creation" Izuku blanched. If that quirk did what he thought it did, then he was a little bit jealous. He was tempted to flip that one open right then and there, but the notebook right beneath it had gotten his attention.

It read: "Quirk: Transmutation" HIS QUIRK! He grinned in excitement, turning to his mother and giving her a bright smile. She returned his grin as she saw the title of the notebook.

"Happy Eighth Birthday, Izu-chan~!" She said happily, as tears began to form in her eyes.

He turned to his mother, practically leaping at her and enveloping her in the tightest hug his young frame could muster.

After a few minutes of hugging, and crying (They were Midoriyas, after all) His mother had decided to leave him alone in his father's study, and the boy moved to the large, black leather chair with a bounce in his step.

He slipped into it carefully, the notebook being tightly hugged to his chest as he did so.

He softly laid the notebook on the surface of the mahogany desk. He handled the notebook as carefully as he could, treating it as if it would shatter if he happened to simply brush against it too harshly.

With a gentle finger, he flipped the notebook open, quickly glancing over and beginning to read the first page of the book.

The very center of the first line simply read. ' _Transmutation.'_

Izuku paused briefly, admiring just how unique his father's handwriting seemed to be.

It wasn't like the flowing, and smooth Kanji his mother practically drew on the pages, gliding her hand along effortlessly, in a rhythmic flow. Nor was it like his own, hurried scribbles, any beauty being ignored in favor of fast, and efficient note-taking.

His father's calligraphy was… Simple, it was the only way to describe it, almost robotic in fact, it seemed that every kanji letter had been printed on, but it wasn't. He could see the small imperfections that dotted the notebook, a streak from the fountain pen running out of ink, a few droplets of dark liquid smearing the page after a hasty refill, almost instinctively, he could pick up the small flaws and analyze them like no one else could.

He blushed, embarrassed, even with those small faults, his father's handwriting was polished to near perfection, a far cry from his own hurried scribbles, understandable to only his own eyes.

 _Origin: An off-shoot of the Quirk "Creation" of the Yaoyorozu bloodline. Conceived when a male with the "Creation" quirk had intermingled with a female with the quirk "Hue shift"_

Izuku's eyes gleamed. "Wow..." He breathed out softly. So his father was a Yaoyorozu? It was certainly an interesting revelation. But he could somewhat see it, understand it. The Yaoyorozu were as renowned for their intelligence as they were for their vast wealth.

The young boy knew about them, of course, his obsession with heroes and quirks alike had made sure of that. While certainly, not a lot of the Yaoyorozu bloodline had opted to become heroes, but the ones that did stuck out as some of the very best, being indispensable in both combat and rescue situations.

It filled him with a certain sense of pride, knowing that he belonged to a family of heroes.

 _The quirk "Hue shift" allowed the user to shift minor things about their appearance, mostly limited to the color of the hair, eyes, nails, and skin. The quirk also requires constant focus, and metabolization to maintain._

 _The quirks managed to mutate, and merge together in the offspring, limiting the effect of "Creation" to the user's own body, with the downside of needing constant focus being inherited._

The green haired boy's eyebrows quirked up curiously. Something didn't sound right, he didn't have to focus on maintaining his quirk. He only had to when he was transmuting a part of his body.

Maybe his quirk had mutated?

It was very unlikely, but it wasn't impossible. Quirks mutated, and got better as they passed from generation to generation. Growing more complex, and more difficult to control in the process.

The Yaoyorozu family, and the Todoroki family were proof of that.

Long ago, the famous "Creation" quirk had been limited to creating hunks of unrefined ore from the body.

The Todoroki family came from similarly humble beginnings, it was hard to imagine that Endeavor's quirk had mutated from a simple fire breathing quirk six or so generations ago.

But quirk evolution took time, and it wasn't like his quirk had evolved completely differently from his father's.

It was more like a different version of the same power.

He broke his train of thought, choosing to press on with reading.

 _Details: Transmutation, allows the user to transform their own body into anything they desire, but much like the originating quirk; Creation, the transformation is limited to non-organic material._

That made sense, Izuku thought, at least he wouldn't have to worry about accidentally growing a second head.

 _The quirk, also much like creation, requires the user to know the exact chemical make-up of an object to be able to transmute it_

He knew that much already, after all, he had spent countless nights reading up on the composition of different materials (Mostly metals) and experimenting with his ability to transmute.

 _This re-engineers the body's fat cells, consuming them in the process, and requires constant focus and metabolization to maintain._

Izuku perked up. There were some obvious differences between his father's quirk, and his own, but they were essentially the same power.

It seemed that he was going to have to make a few notes of his own, but he dared not ruin his father's well organized, and neatly written notebook with his own messy, and rushed Kanji. Instead, the young boy slipped out of the leather chair, and hurriedly skipped out of the room

He dashed back a few moments later, a plain notebook in one hand, and an All-Might pencil in the other.

His hand was shaking as he extended the pencil towards the cover, but for once, he wasn't shaking from fear or nervousness, he was shaking from excitement.

He brought the graphite tip of the pencil against the cover paper, and began to slowly, and carefully write out the title of his own quirk analysis notebook.

"Transmutation. Version 2"

He decided that it would be a fitting title. It was simple, yet effective, at least to his eight year old mind.

Before he began scribbling his notes in the fresh notebook, he picked up his father's book once more, picking up where he left off.

 _The transmutation process consumes more time, and more energy the more complex the object is. Taking up to a few seconds for a complex creation. The time it takes to transmute an appendage is not too noteworthy, but could work against the user's benefit if suddenly confronted with combat._

The green haired boy frowned, that was yet another difference that he noticed almost immediately. His father took seconds to transmute something 'Complex'. While it took him minutes and most of his energy to simple transmute one of his arms into hard metal.

Sure, it stayed that way when it was done, and he didn't need to dwell on it any further after that, but he was still jealous of his father's efficiency and speed.

'Another difference I have to write down' He mumbled to himself absentmindedly.

 _The transmutation quirk is quite versatile, allowing the user to "Mimic" other quirks, copying their abilities in a more mechanized fashion. A speed enhancing quirk could be mimicked by integrating a booster into an appendage, and likewise, a hardening quirk could be mimicked by transmuting metal subdermally, allowing the skin to be much harder than it normally is._

Izuku's gaze turned curious. Hardening? Like the Pro Hero, Crimson Riot? He already knew how useful hardening a limb could be, it wasn't only a boost of defensive abilities, but offensive ones as well.

But.. To limit the hardening to the skin? He wanted to smack himself for not thinking of that, and to think that he had his quirk for nearly four years!

The green haired boy raised his hand up to his face, and then promptly shut his eyes, focusing intensely.

A few splotches of shiny, silver metal started appearing at the center of his palms, they looked like droplets of spilled ink, standing out against his tanned skin.

His eyes fluttered open after a few moments, a wide green crossing his young features. He pulled his other arm upwards and started flicking the small spots he had managed to transmute. His grin only got wider as he heard the distinctive clicking of metal. It was sloppy, and a bit slow, but it was a start. He was sure that once he mastered it, would be a much faster way to reinforce his arms. It wouldn't be as solid as changing the entire thing into metal, but he figured it could do in a pinch.

Wait… If he could use his quirk's abilities to mimic other quirks. Did that mean he could mimic Kacchan's quirk? The only thing he had to do was figure out the chemical composition of nitroglycerin, and with enough practice, he could probably turn his sweat into Nitroglycerin the same way that Katsuki did.

Sure, he wouldn't be able to ignite it at will, but it would be a start. And he was sure he could figure out a work-around with enough time.

Izuku's eyes scanned further down the page, a bit disappointed to see that the analysis had already ended. So soon?

That was what, two pages? If that was all there was to the quirk, then what possibly made his father use up and entire notebook for this?

Now curious, the boy gripped the notebook in his hands, and began flipping through the pages.

Much to his surprise, and amazement, each page he had flipped through showed a different illustration-A well-polished sketch, hand drawn with a title above it, and a short description beneath it.

The green haired boy's eyes bulged. The notebook had what, a hundred pages? And practically all of them were filled with some sort of sketch.

He flipped to the very center of the notebook, curious to see what exactly these sketches were.

' _Quirk Mimic: Air Cannon.'_ The title read, and the sketch showed off the cross-section of a mechanized arm, filled with all sorts of different compartments, with a long thick, metallic tube going through the very center of the arm, and jutting out of the palm. His father had even scrawled in rough dimensions, and the material for each component.

He swallowed. That was… a little advanced for him, he had to admit. Just transmuting his arm into solid metal took a lot out of him. And he had already been shown that he couldn't fine tune the dimensions of his transmutation, as he had barely managed to transform a few patches of skin. Let alone an entire arm, filled with moving parts...And were those tiny gaps he saw lining the sides of the arm?

But still, just the prospect of him being able to eventually achieve something like that made him bounce eagerly in his seat once again.

His father had to be extremely creative, and smart to be able to come up with so many ideas for such a quirk.

He flipped through the notebook again, trying to find something simpler, something that would get him started in following his father's footsteps.

* * *

 _A Year Later_

Green eyes fluttered open at the incessant ringing of an alarm. The curly haired boy yawned, softly sliding a hand over to the button, and stopping the annoying beeping that had woken him. He smiled to himself, sitting up, and stretching his arms over his head with a loud, but cheerful groan.

He twisted his body, naked soles finding themselves impacting soundlessly against wooden flooring as the boy practically skipped out of his bed. Energy filling him from the moment he opened his eyes.

Izuku followed a fairly simple morning routine. He'd wake up, take a quick shower, brush his teeth, eat a large, healthy meal that his mother prepared, and then he'd go out, find Katsuki, and the pair would go for a run together before they headed out for school.

Convincing Katsuki to exercise wasn't an easy task, but somehow, the young boy had managed to convince his blond friend about the importance of exercise when it came to developing their quirks. He had only discovered the importance of physical training about eight or so months ago, when he read through one of his father's many notebooks about enhancing quirks. Apparently, the best way to maintain enhancement quirks was to exercise regularly and have a proper diet so that the quirk had plenty of reserves to draw upon.

He woke up expecting the day to be like any other day. But instead of the smell of a delicious breakfast wafting through his room, he only heard an eerie silence. That wasn't right. His mother was up before him nearly every day, and if she wasn't cooking, then she was usually cleaning around the house, or vacuuming.

He tilted his head curiously, trying to listen for something, for anything that would indicate his mother's presence.

Silence.

Having inherited his mother's worrywart nature, he immediately expected the worst, and he dashed out of his room, his morning routine all but forgotten as he went to look for his mother.

He checked the kitchen first; nothing. Everything had remained untouched, even the dirty dishes from last night's Katsudon dinner had been left unhandled.

The living room? Also nothing.

No quite worried, he rushed back upstairs, bursting through the door of his mother's room.

He found her. Her face was buried deep into a pillow, and her frame was shaking, her shoulders bouncing quietly. Her fingers were clutching the pillow so tightly that her knuckles had turned white, and she had yet to respond to his presence.

Only when his beating heart calmed down he realised what she was doing. His mother was crying, sobbing weakly into the pillow.

"M-Mom?" He asked weakly, taking a hesitant step forward towards his prone mother. She didn't answer.

"Mom?!" He practically shouted, his feet moving instinctually, his hand moving to grasp her frame.

She jolted, quite startled, she looked up at him, her eyes puffy and red from all the crying, and her nose runny. Seeing him must have awakened something, because soon enough, tears started running down her face once again.

"I-I-Izuku.." She choked out, spreading her arms and motioning for him to come closer. He immediately found himself in the arms of his mother, Inko hugging him as tight as she could, almost as if he would disappear any second.

"Mom... What happened?"

Her tears spilled that much faster, and she buried her face in his chest, beginning to sob loudly once again. He could barely pick up the words that she sputtered out in between the sobs that wracked his mother's frame.

"Yo-Your father…" She stuttered out and sobbed that much harder against him.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up, cold goosebumps beginning to creep all over his young frame.

"Wh-What?"

She pulled away from his chest to momentarily look up at him, her bloodshot eyes taking a moment to focus on his own green orbs. She clenched her teeth, sniffling softly before speaking.

"Izu-chan…" She started softly, wiping away her tears, and then gripping him by the shoulders so he would look at her.

"Your father..." Her voice cracked momentarily. "He's in a coma…" She spoke softly, each syllable she forced out causing a stabbing pain in her heart.

He only had vague recollections of the man that he had called his father. All that remained of him were hazy memories, broken recollections of a mysterious man that had long ago disappeared.

There was one memory in particular that he had clung to. He was young, maybe three years old or so, bouncing excitedly in his father's lap, his mother's laughter echoing throughout the room.

He remembered kindness, warmness emanating from the man, even if the details and the structure of his face had been lost to time.

He felt as if something had punched a hole through his heart.

"We don't know if he's going to make it."

Izuku maintained his wide-eyed stare, shock and confusion maring his face. "What happened?" He asked again, his voice cracking just like his mother's voice had not a moment ago.

"He…" She trailed off, biting down on her bottom lip, tears welling up in her eyes again. Guilt pooled up in her eyes. She couldn't keep the secret from him, not any longer.

"He was fighting a hero… And he lost."

The hurt expression in the boy's eyes hurt his mother deeply, and the faint tears prickling at the edge of his vision made her own rise to the surface again. "Why!?" He asked, clearly hurt. Why had a hero taken his father from him!? What had his father possible done to warrant such an attack?!

Inko visibly choked up from his question. "He-he..He…" She could barely formulate words, she knew what was coming would possibly break her son. But he had to know, the truth couldn't be kept to him, not when he was now beginning to mature.

"He's a Villain..." She uttered.

Izuku's blood ran cold.


	2. Chapter 2

**I felt like I was moving a little too fast in this chapter, but it's for a good reason. I'd rather not keep my story pre-UA forever. Because as soon as Izuku gets into UA, the story ramps up considerably. This chapter is meant to highlight a bit of his growth and show the most important bits of it.**

* * *

It didn't make any sense.

The man his mother had spoken so fondly of? A villain.

The man who had gave him life? A villain.

The man who he admired and hoped to be like. A villain.

The words echoed throughout his head like a mantra.

 _Villain._

He had spent countless hours obsessing over this man's research and quirk analysis. This _villian's_ research.

His quirk? The quirk of a villain.

The thought made him sick. It disgusted Izuku to know that he had been born with villainous blood in his veins.

His mind rushed through a plethora of different emotions, sadness, rejection, but mostly. Anger.

He was angry at his father for so many things, but mostly he was angry at himself. To obsess, and chase behind the shadow of a villain when he called All-Might his idol? He shook his head bitterly. It had been a few weeks since his mother broke the news, and he hadn't stepped in his father's study since then.

Of course, he had already gotten most of the use out of that room- out of his father's notebooks. He had memorized each of his father's in-depth transmutations, everything from "Telescoping Limbs" to the advanced "Air Cannon" he had stumbled upon.

Of course, he didn't have the precise control that was required to transmute most of the sketches in that notebook. And now, with the latest revelation about his father, he didn't think he wanted to. He wanted to distance himself as far as possible from that man. That _Villain._

In his efforts, he found himself standing outside a fairly sized gadget shop that catered to heroes. The sign, constructed with a bright, neon pink glow read "Hatsume's Babies"

He had figured out the fact that he could, in theory, copy gadgets only a few months prior. But he had completely ignored that idea in favor of obsessively studying from his father's notebooks. Why did he need to copy gadgets when he had what was essentially a mechanical encyclopedia at home?

Izuku steadied himself with a deep breath, and he pushed the door open. Immediately, he was greeted with a loud, chirpy tone. "Welcome to Hatsume's Babies~" She practically sung, and Izuku's eyes immediately went to hers.

She was a middle-aged woman, about his mother's age. The way she looked was… Interesting. She had bright pink hair, almost matching the neon sign outside in its intensity. It was in a moderate state of dishevelment, as was the rest of her outfit. A set of deep brown goggles decorated her forehead, a much too cheery smile was etched onto her face, and her yellow irises were looking at Izuku with a large amount of interest. She absentmindedly moved a hand across her abdomen, smoothing out the heavy-looking blacksmith apron she had on.

Izuku blushed nervously under her intense stare, shyly moving himself towards the counter, his trademark red sneakers shuffling together awkwardly.

"H-Hi." He stuttered out, he had mostly squashed out the habit of stuttering, but meeting new people still made the green-haired boy nervous.

"Welcome!" The woman chirped cheerily again, motioning him to come closer. "So, how can I help you?"

"Are you um…" He paused looking up at her expectantly.

"The owner?" She practically sang "Yes! And the main gadget creator here!" She announced proudly, her chest puffing up in pride.

He shook his head, and his head craned down to his feet, the boy brushing his red sneakers together a bit awkwardly.

"Ar-Are you looking for any assistants!?" He suddenly blurted out, the smallest bit of stutter beginning his sentence.

That. She didn't expect, as evidenced by the fact her eyebrows rose so high that they seemed to go past her goggles.

Hatsume Aiko wasn't really expecting anything like that out of the boy. Children were a rare sight in her shop, and most of the ones that came in just wanted to see "The cool gadgets she made." Not that there was anything wrong with that. She happily and proudly sated their curiosity every time.

But for a boy that looked younger than her daughter to ask to assist her around the shop?

She wanted to say yes but doubt quickly plagued her mind. Why did he want to help her, exactly? Children as young as him (Except her own daughter, of course) were rarely interested in the process of manufacturing support items, and even less aspired to create said support items. So, what had driven the child to come to her?

"Why?" She asked simply, genuine curiosity, and a hint of shock filling her tone.

Izuku, being the bright boy that he was, understood the question quickly. 'Why should I let you?'

"I.." He began, trying to formulate the proper response that would get her to agree to mentor him in creating gadgets. Seeing as he couldn't come up with one though, he let out an exasperated sigh, and simply held his arm up high, his palm clear in her view.

Swiftly, the tips of his fingers began to glow, and the look of curiosity that occupied the pink haired woman's face turned into fascination. Her pupils dilating and shrinking as she stared at what she only assumed to be an enhancement quirk.

It took a few minutes of straining, but not once had the woman broken her gaze away from his hand, staring at it intently as he slowly, but surely transmuted the appendage.

What stood before Aiko was… Well, it was still a hand. But flesh and skin had disappeared, instead being replaced with shiny, silver metal.

It wasn't a simple enhancement quirk. She could see it, as her quirk allowed her to zoom in, and take in the intricate details of the transformation. The dimensions of his fingers had changed ever so slightly. His knuckles and his joints however, changed completely; being replaced with metallic joints, complete with moving components, the boy seemed to move his mechanical fingers as naturally as he moved his human ones.

A large grin crossed her face.

"It's my quirk.." He muttered, blushing under her intense gaze "I can transform my body into anything mechanical, as long as I know how it's made." He explained simply, and the euphoric look in the older woman's eyes scared him a little bit.

Was this a mistake?

Hatsume's mind was rushing through hundreds of thoughts, she squealed, ' _OH THE POSSIBILITIES~!'_ She yelled internally. If his quirk worked like she assumed, she was going to have a lot of fun with him.

He already showed a good understanding of mechanics, so she wouldn't have to teach him that. They needed to get started right away, oh Mei was going to have a field day with him.

He was practically the perfect subject for gadget experimentation.

Her head snapped around so fast that Izuku thought she had broken her neck. "MEI!" She yelled out to the back of the shop.

What she got in response was an explosion, a rather loud explosion, and a plume of smoke shooting out of the small door that led to the backroom. "COMING!" He heard a young voice call back.

A few seconds later, a girl his age came out of the room, covered from head to toe in soot-and dear god was her hair on fire!?

The miniature version of the Hatsume woman quickly brushed a hand to her hair, putting out the beginnings of a fire brewing atop her head. She giggled to herself, slipping the goggles up off her eyes, and gazing intensely at Izuku.

Aiko turned back around, waving a hand towards his direction. "MEET YOUR NEW PARTNER!"

The girl _squealed_ just like her mother had and ran up to him. She had practically thrown herself at him, wrapping firm arms around his frame. "HELLO NEW BEST FRIEND!" She exclaimed loudly, excitement palpable in her tone.

Izuku smiled to himself as he had his breath squeezed out of his chest from the force of the hug.

Well, this didn't go as bad as he expected.

* * *

 _The Following Day_

Izuku wheezed softly as he attempted to push himself off the floor once more, his forearms and biceps burning painfully as he performed his twentieth push-up. He failed to lift himself completely off the floor and collapsed in a small heap. Even with his failure, he still felt a sense of pride filling his chest. A few months prior, he could do no more than two before collapsing, and now, he could do almost ten times that amount. It had been slow, but he knew he was improving.

Exercise, he found out, was a very important part of maintaining his quirk. And that wasn't only limited to running. He had to get core muscles stronger, his arms stronger, and his legs stronger as well.

It hadn't been apparent in the beginning, but the transmutation of flesh to metal came with the added weight he needed to carry. He hadn't noticed at first, only being capable of small patches of skin, or his whole hand if he had a lot of free time on his hands.

It was only when he began experimenting with sturdier, denser metals he realized that he actually had to _carry_ that weight around.

Especially if he was going to start using his quirk like he desired.

Izuku let out a small sigh. He needed to stop mumbling and trailing off, he had almost missed breakfast. He didn't want Katsuki to be pissed at him AGAIN because he was a few minutes late to what had become a routine run in the morning.

He quickly ran down the steps, jumping down the last two steps, the delicious smell of his mother's breakfast luring him to the kitchen like it did every day. His mother had prepared what could only be described as a feast.

She had been making those ever since she had gotten the doctor's note about his increased metabolism. How Izuku had to 'Maintain a higher caloric intake than his peers to keep his quirk's use efficient'. Ever since then, his mother went all out with breakfasts.

Boiled eggs, grilled fish, a large amount of vegetables, and a healthy bowl of rice had been his normal breakfast for a few years now, and surprisingly, he finished all of it, almost every single day. The doctor was right, ever since he had started those large, healthy breakfasts, his transmutation speed had gotten faster, and his creations were more solid than before.

He quickly stepped into his trademark red sneakers and gave his mother a small kiss on the forehead before he headed outside. She gave him a loving smile and handed him two water bottles. A large one that was filled to the brim with icy water, and another smaller one that was filled to the brim with raw honey.

Yes. Honey. Somehow, his mother had found that stuffing his lunchbag with a bottle full of honey had kept those random "dizzy spells" that he had before at bay. Apparently, his blood sugar got low often, and he needed to constantly keep it topped off by drinking raw honey.

Yes, a lot of other people thought that he was insane when he brought a water bottle filled with honey to school.

But he couldn't help it! His use of his quirk was practically constant. If he wasn't actively trying to practice with it, then he was passively changing his skin to metal, reverting it back, and then transmuting it back to metal underneath his long-sleeved school uniform. He wanted the process of transmutation to be as easy to him as breathing, and it was certainly becoming that way from the intensive way he threw himself into practicing it.

In a way, he was a bit jealous of Katsuki. His quirk was really simple to use. He only had to oxidize his sweat, and bam, explosions. It wasn't that it was just simple to use, it was really powerful too. And all he had to do to use it was to sweat. It was a little bit unfair, in Izuku's mind, that coupled with the fact that Katsuki had already figured out that he could use his explosions to launch himself short distances, it made Izuku a tiny bit jealous.

The boy was nine and he was able to use it not only offensively, but defensively as well. He had helped Katsuki come up with "Stun Grenade". A weak explosive blast that caused a bright flash of light and blinded his enemies for a few short moments.

He could do all that, and Izuku was damn near sure he hadn't actively pursued training his quirk once. It was 'Already perfect' as he said.

Meanwhile, Izuku practiced his quirk all day, every day, and all he had to show for it so far was a slow transmutation. He could make his entire arm robotic, and he had a tiny bit of progress with turning his skin metallic, but that was about it.

For all the progress that he had made, he still had quite a way to go.

But he'd do it, he was determined. He wanted to be a hero, and nothing would stop him. Even with the blood of a villain in his veins, he was going to show everyone that he could be a hero.

* * *

 _Three years later_

Hatsume Aiko barely flinched as the sound of a loud explosion rang throughout her shop. Her ears began to ring, and she shook her head, an expression of faint annoyance crossing her features.

"YOU TWO OKAY BACK THERE?" She yelled, casually flipping through a small gadget magazine that laid atop the counter. She didn't even bother to glance back to see the plume of smoke, she had gotten used to it by now.

"YEAH!" Shouted the pair in unison, a series of muffled coughs coming from the small back area of the shop.

The cause of the explosion? Mei had insisted on overcharging a speed enhancement gadget, a fairly-sized gadget that clipped around the calves and used bursts of compressed air to give the user a small boost in speed.

Mei had came up with the 'ingenious' idea of using another type of compressed gas, Nitrous Oxide. She hadn't even given Izuku time to react before she had inserted a small, finger sized canister into where the compressed oxygen usually went, and then set it off.

The gadget, only meant to release oxygen, couldn't handle the sudden heat of introducing such a flammable substance, and spontaneously combusted.

"You're an idiot…" Bristled Izuku with a small sigh, a gloved hand moving to scrape away the soot that had accumulated on the heavy red goggles he wore.

The pink haired girl answered him with her usual overexcited grin, small wipers moving frantically from side to side to wipe away at the soot that had accumulated on her own brown goggles.

She let out a loud, boisterous laugh before wrapping an arm around Izuku's shoulder, and pulling him close. "We would have never known if we hadn't tried!"

Izuku looked outraged. "YES WE COULD HAVE!" He shouted back, opening his mouth once again to argue before Mei's finger shushed him quickly.

"No arguing~" She said in a sing-song tone. "We have more babies to make!" She said with glee, tossing Izuku a metallic wrist strap. He caught it swiftly, his metallic hand clinging softly against the steel device.

"What now? Are we going to shove a stick of dynamite in this?" He uttered sarcastically, and he saw her yellow irises roll.

"No, idiot. I need you to adjust this." She said, her grin never once leaving her face. His brows furrowed, and he grumbled under his breath before the tip of his index finger began to glow.

Mei watched on in fascination, no matter how many times she had watched him transmute his hands, it never stopped intriguing her. Even if she had seen it hundreds, if not thousands of times.

The tip of his finger stopped growing, his transmutation narrowing down his finger to a fine rod, with a screwdriver at the very end. Wordlessly, he began adjusting the metal bracer, feeling the pink haired girl's hand patting his shoulder affectionately.

"Good toolbox~" She sang, knowing that that particular nickname annoyed him to no end.

As much as Mei got on his nerves, and she did it often, he could honestly say she had become one of his best friends, and an invaluable partner over the years.

The pair spent a few more hours tinkering with, thankfully, no more incidents.

Izuku's theoretical knowledge, and constant research, coupled with Mei's creativity, and hands-on experience made them quite the productive pair.

A few years ago, Izuku could barely hold a gadget properly, now he had the expertise to properly deconstruct, and then reconstruct any of the gadgets in Hatsume's shop in just a few short minutes.

He still didn't have enough experience for Aiko to allow him to repair the broken, or damaged gadgets that pro heroes brought in, but she was kind enough to give him an in-depth explanation about each and every mechanical part, and how to repair it if it was damaged.

Time usually passed quickly whenever him and Mei worked together, and today was no exception before either of them realized, Aiko was closing down the shop, and Izuku sadly had to bid the mother and daughter pair farewell before he left.

* * *

 _The following day_

Two boys stood on opposite ends of a fairly-large sized tatami mat, an elder man standing between them, grasping a large, well-used Bo staff in his hand. The man was dressed in a traditional, loose fitting Kimono, the threads as black as his piercing eyes. His head didn't hold a single lock of hair, but the man more than made up for it with the thick beard that dangled from his chin, coming to a point right past his collar.

He toyed with the hairs of his beard thoughtfully, glancing between the blond and the green-haired boy. Seeing each of them tense their body in readiness for combat, he quickly tapped the Bo staff on the floor once, and then stepped back, watching the pair with an experienced, analytical eye.

Katsuki lunged forward, going into a full-on sprint to close the distance between them, Izuku simply made a few strides towards the center, knowing full-well that the blond would come at him in the same way he had every time the pair fought.

He sidestepped the right overhead fist that came his way and responded with an open palmed strike to Katsuki's stomach. The blond didn't as much as flinch spinning around his axis, and quickly performing a roundhouse kick that stung Izuku's palms as he blocked it, his body being lurched backwards from the impact of the strike.

True to his nature, Katsuki stepped forward once again, before Izuku could so much as recover, he spun around again, using the spinning to gain momentum as he aimed another roundhouse kick at Izuku's face, instead of blocking like he had before, he instead tilted his body backwards, a leg quickly moving, and sweeping Katsuki's leg from beneath him.

He cursed as Katsuki landed on his hands and launched himself backwards with a small roll.

The pair grinned at one another as they each took their respective stances, side-stepping slowly as they moved around each other in a circle.

Surprisingly, it was Izuku who took the initiative this time. He moved forward, and jumped, taking a note out of Katsuki's book, he spun around his axis, and delivered a painful roundhouse kick directly to the blond's face.

Katsuki had been so surprised that Deku out of all people took the initiative to attack that he had completely forgotten to block or move out of the way. He watched in fascination as Izuku's heel slammed into his cheek and sent him barreling towards the floor.

Their old mentor let out a small whistle at the boldness of that move, also surprised at the fact that it had worked.

"Fucking… Nerd." Katsuki growled out loudly, he leaned back so that all of his weight was focused on his back, before lurching his body forward and kipping up.

Even though his cheek stung, and his vision was still swimming, he still lunged forward- after all, he had an amazing amount of pain tolerance from using his quirk.

He aimed a right overhead strike at Izuku once again, and the green-haired boy shifted his stance, ready to redirect his attack, and knock him off balance. But Katsuki hadn't gone through with the attack all the way, as soon as Izuku had shifted his stance, the blond's shifted as well, he kept his left foot firmly planted on the floor, and then spun around his body, delivering a devastating spinning elbow to the green-haired boy's unprotected cheek.

The amount of force from that attack sent him to the floor, he hadn't been knocked out, but it was damn close, black spots filled his vision, his world beginning to swim around him.

His vision swam so badly that he hadn't noticed the light tap of the Bo staff that had concluded their spar. Looking up, Izuku saw Katsuki unsteadily moving on his feet, his knees buckling beneath his own weight before he, just like Izuku, collapsed to the floor, holding his bruised cheek.

A small laugh caught both of their attention, an amused smile had been dancing on their mentor's face, but more than that, they saw the pride that filled his eyes as he stared at the pair.

"You're getting better." He commented, amusement still in his tone.

"Midoriya." He started "Your defensive style is still a bit too rigid, but you've made good progress. Try not to analyze every single movement, let your muscle memory do the fighting for you."

He had repeated that remark dozens, if not hundreds of times by now. Izuku lightly blushed and rubbed at his green curly locks sheepishly.

"And that was a nice hit, it's good to see you've finally gotten daring enough to take the first strike."

He smiled under the praise, a goofy smile playing at Izuku's lips even as his mentor turned towards Katsuki.

"And you, Idiot." Katsuki responded with a death-glare, though it was quite subdued. He knew their old mentor was quirkless. It didn't make him any less intimidating though, he could still beat both their asses with a hand tied behind his back. Literally. He had done it before.

"How many times am I going to have to tell you to slow down?" He uttered, affection and annoyance littering his tone. "Take your time, think. Your speed makes you unpredictable, but it also leaves you with a lot of openings."

Katsuki begrudgingly nodded, he, much like Izuku, had heard this particular comment before. And he was trying to work on it, honestly. But it was hard to slow down and think when he was such an adrenaline junkie.

He tapped his Bo staff against the floor, and the pair quickly rose to their feet again, each clutching their respective bruised cheek. Almost in perfect unison, they each shook their heads, and took their respective fighting stances once more.

* * *

 _Later that day_

Bakugo Mitsuki wasn't alarmed when she heard her son let out a series of curses obscene enough to make a sailor blush. It was a usual event in the Bakugo household, after all. What did surprise her, however, was the fact that he HADN'T blown anything up afterwards. Now THAT got her brow raising.

Her gaze was still locked onto the TV, the woman too caught up in watching her favorite late-night soap opera to really bother with checking out what was wrong.

Her eye lazily turned to the clock during a slow moment of the episode, and immediately, her brow began twitching. What in the ever-loving fuck had caused her son to start shouting at one thirty in the fucking morning!?

That little shit better not have started sleep-talking. The last thing she needed was to wake up at three in the morning to her son screaming about murdering sheep in his sleep.

She fumed, had he woken Izuku too? The boy _was_ staying over. The vein on her forehead only bulged that much larger when she realized the boy probably woke up his father. The last thing that her husband needed was Katsuki shouting his ears off while he had a long day of work ahead. She slipped off of the couch, slipping on her favorite pair of pink, fuzzy slippers, and angrily starting to make her way to her son's room. Her television left blaring and forgotten.

Angrily, she stomped her way up the steps, her feet thudding loudly against the wooden paneling. If Katsuki didn't wake his father up, she was sure that she was going to, by this point.

She raised a slipper-covered foot up, and then kicked her son's door open with a resounding slam. She opened her mouth to shout curses at her son-As she usually did- but just how focused he seemed to be seemed to throw her off guard.

Katsuki was occupying himself with a pencil, and a sketchbook, and seeing as they had All-Might plastered all over them, they were probably Izuku's. She watched as her son angrily scribbled _something_ and then tore the page from the notebook, shoving it in Izuku's face.

Only when the green-haired boy pointed towards her direction did Katsuki finally notice his mother had barged in.

A vein bulged in his forehead, and he turned to her. "THE FUCK YA WANT, OLD HAG!?" He threw his hands out in front of him, pointing to the massive mound of crumpled up papers, and two notebooks that read "Hero Costume"

Oh, so the little shits were making their hero costumes, eh? Mitsuki couldn't help but feel somewhat excited at the prospect.

She had watched for many years as her son spoke about becoming a hero with religious zealous, and now, that becoming a hero was finally in reach, he was developing an outfit. She wanted to squeal in glee, and ask to see their designs, but she also had to be a mother. Fuck. Being an adult sucked.

"WELL KEEP IT THE FUCK DOWN!" She shouted back at him, promptly turned around, and slammed the door shut.

Only to open it a second later, and peek her head in.

"AND SHOW ME WHAT YOU CAME UP WITH WHEN YOU'RE DONE"

Both boys gave her a wide grin and a nod. She quickly-And quietly, this time- shut the door once more.

"A belt strapped with grenades?" Izuku asked incuriously, before his brow furrowed a little bit in thought.

"That… Wouldn't be all that bad, actually. You could actually use those grenades as storage devices to store your sweat if you hook up the belt with some sort of vacuum, or pump system. One that injects all the different grenades with sweat, that and it'd pull a lot of unused nitroglycerin from your chest area, an area which you don't use all that mu-"

"MUMBLING!" Katsuki yelled, interrupting him.

Izuku sighed. "I'm saying it can work. With some adjustments."

Katsuki grinned. "So you're saying I'm right?"

"Kind of?"

"Eat shit, Deku."

"Fuck you, Kacchan."

"THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY!?" He yelled out loud, getting in Izuku's face, challenging him

"THE FUCK DID **I** JUST SAY!?" Came Mitsuki's angry voice from outside the room, and Katsuki let out a huff of annoyance before grabbing his notebook once again.

"So, what about the grenade gauntlets?" He asked hopefully.

Izuku deadpanned. "That's just stupid and impractical."

"EH!?"

The green haired boy shot a hand up. "It's not a bad idea!" He started. "But instead of storing all your sweat in one place, and blowing it in one go, why not give yourself more shots to work with?"

"I'm listening."

"So." He grabbed the notebook out of Katsuki's hand, drawing a thin line beneath the spot that Katsuki had scrawled out the design of a massive grenade that wrapped around his hand like a gauntlet.

Beneath it, Izuku began to draw out a gauntlet that wrapped around the hand, going all the way up to the elbow. It seemed rather bare, and Katsuki was about to interject until Izuku started sketching out what looked like a miniature rocket right next to it. "This." He pointed towards the storage device. "Goes onto your gauntlet. "He tapped his base drawing once again. "I can probably fit up to five of these on your gauntlet at a time. Making for ten shots." He explained.

"These will fill up with your sweat as you fight, and you can either" He pointed to the tip of the miniature rocket. "Uncork them and use that sweat to form a powerful close-range attack." Katsuki seemed pleased at that aspect of the design.

"Or!" He began and pointed towards the bottom of the miniature rockets. "You can launch these off your gauntlet and make for a huge long-range explosion."

Katsuki choked. That sounded fucking AMAZING.

"Man… Having a nerd for a friend is fucking awesome." The blond grinned.

Izuku smiled under the praise, and flipped through his friend's notebook once again, finding different things that he could improve open.

What began as "Let's work on hero costumes together" ended as "A massive nerd tries to cram as many gadgets into a costume as he can"

It wasn't until dim sunlight had began to permeate throughout the room that that pair had finished their illustrations, each one promptly collapsing into a crumpled heap onto the floor, not even bothering to get into a comfortable position before sleep overtook them.

They had taken what? Twelve hours? But they were finally done, and a had a result they were happy with.

* * *

 _Two Years Later_

Izuku was distracted. A rough, calloused hand wrapped carefully around a pencil, moving in slow, careful strokes as he sketched out yet another design for a transmutation. He had mastered the process a few months ago, able to now perfectly transmute each and every design he came up with.

He had practiced religiously with his different transmutations, mastering a plethora of designs. His proudest achievement? A transmutation he called 'Boost'. A mimicry he had designed of off the Pro Hero Ingenium's quirk. Instead of the boosters being near his triceps, however, he had positioned them much lower, near his calves, offering a more natural, and more controllable burst of speed.

It was loosely based off a gadget that Mei had blown up a few years back (One of many).

He had also discovered that he was able to transmute foreign, non-organic objects. The discovery was… Admittedly accidental, he had been focusing on the sketch of a gadget so thoroughly that he hadn't noticed he was subconsciously channeling his quirk, he had only noticed when the pencil in his hand became a steel tube and had torn a large chunk out of the page he was sketching on.

He hadn't gone anywhere with the discovery, he simply didn't have the necessary power to do so. Transmuting his body had become easy due to his own familiarity with it. Transmuting his arms now took little out of him, his legs took out a little bit more, but he could do it.

But transmuting something as small as a pencil would drain him of nearly his entire energy stores. He had a few theories why, but none of the stuck out as particularly plausible.

Simply put, his ability to transmute other, non-living objects was an enigma to him, and he didn't even attempt to practice due to just how ridiculous of an energy requirement it took.

He was so distracted with his train of thought that he hadn't noticed the teacher call out his name, nor the general state of uproar that the class seemed to be in.

A small explosion snapped him out of his trail of thought, he gave a sideways glare to Katsuki, who returned his gaze with a full-on murderous expression.

"Stop fucking mumbling, nerd."

Oh. He was thinking out loud again. Oops.

He heard small snickers and laughter echo throughout the small classroom, followed up with an even bigger explosion. Katsuki had slammed his hands down on the desk, a small explosion covering the desk in burn marks as he yelled. "SHUT THE FUCK UP, EXTRAS."

The mood sobered very quickly. Each one of their classmates looking up at Katsuki with a fearful gaze.

"Laugh all you want, extras. But none of you here are as strong as we are!" He exclaimed, loud and proud. It was true, during their time, and training together, the pair had shown considerable growth. Quite literally, Izuku was now sitting just an inch above six feet tall while Katsuki was merely two inches below that.

Izuku attributed that to a lack of a healthy diet, that, and the Blond didn't take exercising as seriously as Izuku had. Katsuki didn't really need it much for his quirk, after all.

Surprisingly, the green-haired boy spoke. "We both aced UA's mock exam." He stated simply.

"While you fuckers did fuckity fuck-all!" That was Katsuki. Why didn't the teacher step in? Oh right, he was just as deathly afraid of Katsuki as the rest of the class was.

The pair silently fist-bumped, a knowing grin crossing each other their faces. They had trained their entire lives for this point, there was nothing that was going to stop them from achieving their dreams.

* * *

The green-haired boy shuffled along, his red sneakers moving noisily, thudding against the asphalt as he made his way home. Much like every single day, the boy was distracted, his young brain moving through one idea through another. How to improve his transmutations, how he could build some things quicker, new metal alloys to experiment with. He had been so distracted that he hadn't noticed the manhole shuddering beneath his foot as he moved across a small underpass.

He did notice however, when the manhole was launched upwards, slamming against the top of the underpass, and creating a large crack in the concrete. It landed not a moment later, and the deathly silence after put Izuku on edge.

He immediately raised both of his hands up, taking a defensive fighting stance as he stared at the entrance to the sewer expectantly. There was no time to transmute his hands into anything complex, so he just settled with hardening his skin.

A void-like black formed at the very edge of his fingertips, and quickly spread down, moving through his arms like a raging fire, the black metal didn't stop, the creeping transmutation took less than a few seconds, and stopped just beneath his biceps.

He had been wholly unprepared for what came to him next. What he could only describe as a massive amount of faded green, rancid sludge shot out from the manhole like a geyser, and it was quickly starting to move his way.

He did the only thing he could, he turned around, and ran. Adrenaline filling his veins and fueling his muscles. Unfortunately for him, as much as he was overexerting himself. He wasn't fast enough.

A large blob of that disgusting sludge slammed against the base of his neck, and knocked him off his feet, making him roll against the asphalt painfully, small cuts, and frictions burns littering his face as he attempted to get on his feet, and make a run for it again.

He didn't move. A heavy weight had been placed on his back, and he realized that whatever that _thing_ was, it was atop him, holding him still. He heard a loud, booming laugh, an insane cackle coming from that mess of liquid.

"Finally! A fitting vessel! Don't struggle… It'll only take a minute."

Before he could do as much as react, he felt a wave of liquid rush against his face, prying his lips open, and beginning to push down his mouth, he choked out loudly, gargling as he was forced to swallow down mouthful after mouthful of that rancid liquid. It invaded his nostrils. He couldn't breathe, his lungs burned.

Was this the end?

Was this the way he died?

A budding flame extinguished before it could grow to what it was meant to be?

He struggled, his hands clawing at his face before the mass of sludge had pinned his arms down too.

Different emotions coursed through him, fear, anger, desperation… And finally, acceptance.

Tears began to flow freely from his eyes. Everything he had done… It had all amounted to nothing.

All the training, all those hard hours slaving away, strengthening his body, and his quirk, pointless.

Midoriya Izuku was nothing more than useless. ' _I'm sorry…Mom.'_

His eyes fluttered shut as the very last of his oxygen was forced out of his lungs.

This was it, this was his end.

" **SMASH!** "

Then the world around him exploded. He didn't know what happened exactly, but he knew that one moment the life was leaving his body, and the next, he had been slammed against a concrete wall, bruised, in pain, but breathing. He was alive!

He opened his eyes, expecting to see the horrifying visage of the sludge villain charging at him yet again. Only to be met with a large, confident, and reassuring grin. What stared back at him could only be described as a herculean man, standing well over seven feet in length, and with a body that was so muscled it looked like it had been carved out of stone.

Izuku knew that trademark grin, and those spikey locks of deep yellow from anywhere. It was the hero that he had looked up to for all his life, the number one hero, and the symbol of peace, All-Might.

Izuku nearly had an aneurism.

"A-A-A-All" He sputtered out loud, looking at the mountain of a man that stood proudly before him.

The tall man responded with a confident reassuring laugh, slipping into a pose. " **MIGHT!"**

" **It's alright now. Why!? Because I am here!** " The catchphrase that he had heard a thousand times before seemed to reverberate within the boy.

"All-Might!" He exclaimed loudly, promptly getting to his feet. Being saved by his hero… He felt a strange weight make its way onto his shoulders. A burden that he had experienced before. One that he had squashed away, bottled up.

He felt filthy, tainted, before the symbol of justice, and heroism before him.

He was the son of a villain, and before him, was the number one hero.

His thoughts moved like tumultuous waves, doubt once again plaguing his mind.

Izuku had thought that he had squashed those thoughts away, that he could become a hero no matter what. He had charged on with a headstrong mindset, and unrelenting determination.

But, before All-Might. For some reason, he felt pressured, uncertain.

He needed confirmation, validation, something to let him know he could become a hero.

" **Well!** " All-Might started, bending his knees. " **Since you seem to be doing alright, young man, I'll be off to hand this villain off to the local authorities!** " And with that, he took off, a large, spiderweb-like crack emanating from where he had launched himself.

Izuku resisted the urge to let out a horrified scream as he stared down, the buildings beneath him moving away in a blur. They were going so fast!

"All-Might!" He shouted out, his words coming out like a warbled mess thanks to the wind moving his lips around comically.

The blond man glanced down, panic filling his features as he noticed the boy attached to him. With no other choice, he was forced to land on a nearby building.

Izuku looked down in shame, unable to meet his hero's gaze as he spoke. His heart pounding painfully in his chest. "All-Might. Do you think I can become a hero!?"

He was met with another boisterous laugh. " **OF COURSE!"** He exclaimed, and quickly turned, hoping to be able to leave the building before his time ran out. Luck didn't seem to be on his side however, as the boy before him silently shook, before whispering out. "Even if my father is a villain?"

All-Might paused, jolting suddenly as he coughed blood into his hand, and his muscle form deflated, leaving behind a thin, sickly looking man.

"What did you say, young man?"

"My father is a villain!" He screamed out, tears forming at the edge of his eyes, holding himself from sobbing openly in front of his hero.

The sickly man paused, a thoughtful expression crossing his features for a few moments.

"Does everybody know about this, young man?"

Izuku softly shook his head, "Only me and my mother."

"And I as well" All-Might said thoughtfully, looking at the kneeling boy, who seemed to be quite shaken.

Izuku recoiled as he felt a thin, reaffirming hand grasp his shoulder softly, giving it a few pats.

"Don't worry, young man." All of his fears seemed to melt away into nothing. That doubt that plagued him and made his heart thump uncomfortably in his chest. It was gone.

Izuku glanced upwards, hope filling his eyes.

"…Who are you?" All-Might's face fell. He let out another bloody cough, before he explained what happened to him to the young boy. How he had gotten injured, and how time as a hero was extremely limited because of that.

After a lengthy explanation, All-Might squeezed his shoulder once again. "Don't worry about your lineage, young man." He said softly, a bright, confident smile "No matter whose son you are. You can be a hero as long as you're determined."

"And now. Both of us have a secret we have to keep" He said with a playful smile, raising a thin, lanky finger to his lips in a shushing motion.

Izuku smiled and wiped the tears from his eyes as he thanked All-Might, watching the man disappear behind the small door. Neither of them had noticed that the bottle that the villain was captured in had gone missing during the exchange.

* * *

Izuku grinned as he saw a bright flash of light, followed up by the sound of a booming explosion. There was no way in hell that was an accident, that was most likely a villain attack, and where there were villains, there were heroes.

As much as he had grown, at his very core, the boy was still as obsessed with heroes as he was when he was young, and before he could as much as call his mother, he found himself excitedly gravitating towards the source of that small explosion.

His brisk walk turned into a rapid sprint as the loud booms of explosions filled the cityscape, it seemed like a powerful villain, seeing that fight was going to be so exciting!

His excited pace stopped promptly as he came to the alleyway where the explosions were coming from, a cold chill creeping up his spine, and freezing him in place as he saw what was before him.

It was the sludge villain, the very same that had attacked him not a few minutes earlier, and it seemed to be wrapped around a civilian. Dear god, was that Katsuki!?

Another chill ran through his spine as he recounted the day's events, realizing that he had knocked the bottle out of All-Might's pocket sometime during their impromptu meeting.

He looked around, panicked, desperate, but the heroes all around seemed to be standing in place. Trying to keep the civilians from intervening, but not much more. Kamui Woods, Death Arms, even Mount Lady was simply standing in place, watching in as much horror as he did.

The only hero that was doing something was simply trying to control the fires that had been caused by Katsuki's explosions.

A wave of nausea hit him as he realized the blond was probably in as much panic as he was not a few minutes earlier, and the explosions were probably purely reflexive.

Kamui woods couldn't do anything, those explosions would burn him alive.

Death Arms couldn't do anything either, physical attacks would phase right through the sludge villain.

Mount Lady! She could probably grab Katsuki and somehow shake off the slime villain if she tried.

No, the alley was too small for her to even step close.

He ground his teeth together, trying to think of a solution. The only thing he could do was to blow that thing away, like All-Might had.

What could he do?

A single thought rang across his mind, a schematic, he remembered it as clear as day.

"Quirk Mimicry: Air Cannon."

He had sworn not to use his father's transmutations, but now, there was no other way to save his friend from certain death.

Before he had even formulated a plan, his body moved. Adrenaline flowing through his veins as he began to channel energy to right hand, a rough idea of a transmutation going through his mind.

He was sure that he could blow away the villain with the Air Cannon but transmuting that required time. He needed something to buy him time, and he couldn't simply wait, Katsuki's struggling was getting more frantic, and he was sure that he was running out of air.

As he ran forward, his right arm began narrowing beneath the elbow, the skin taking on a bright metallic sheen as his hand narrowed further and further, turning into a spearpoint, his right arm being transmuted into what was essentially an iron spike.

His sprint brought him to the creature in a few milliseconds, but he couldn't get close enough, Katsuki's flailing was still causing harsh explosions. Throwing caution to the wind, he hardened his skin, and charged forward.

He attacked the only weak-point he could see, the eyes. He hurriedly plunged the spike that had been transmuted from his arm into the creature's left eye. He heard a horrific cry, and then a sharp inhale of air, Katsuki had been freed momentarily, allowing to only get a mouthful of oxygen before he was recaptured again. But that was enough. It would buy him enough time.

The long sleeve was torn to shreds as the arm transmuted beneath it, the constant shifting of metal beneath it tearing it to shreds in a matter of moments.

He stepped back, raising his left arm upwards, his appendage having become completely mechanic, a large hole now gaping in the center of Izuku's palm. the metallic parts were still clicking into place, and reconfiguring as he raised his arm. Rectangular holes began to open up along the sides of his arm, a sharp whistling coming from the appendage, the air around his distorting visible as it was sucked in and compressed in the arm.

He charged in once more, he cancelled the transmutation of his right hand, hardening it, and plunging it into the sludge villain's body, grabbing hold of Katsuki's hand.

"SMASH!" It was the only word that came to mind as he slammed his hand forward and released the compressed air.

The repercussive blast had been so powerful that it had launched the villain away, his body turning into a collection of splatters against the opposing wall of the alleyway.

The recoil had launched the pair against a wall, Bones slamming against brick painfully as Izuku impacted against the wall, the arm he had used to save his friend being bent back at an awkward angle. Katsuki landed against him, and the last thing that Izuku saw before his vision went black was the visage of All-Might's muscle form stepping between them, and the sludge villain that was slowly beginning to reform.

* * *

 **AN: The costume reveal is going to be saved for later on~ Yes, I'm evil.**

 **And before you ask, yes. Izuku is going to be receiving OFA. Although I'm going to be tweaking the way it works a little bit in my story.  
**

 **Have a lovely day~**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Just a small note to begin with! Since this story is told from many people's perspectives, it's going to sometimes seem swayed to one side or another. Nobody is a perfect narrator, especially since it's told from their point of view. There are bound to be mistakes, or things that differ from reality.**

* * *

Waking up was… a process; a slow and very painful process. He had drifted in and out of consciousness multiple times. Sometimes he didn't even get to open his eyes before sleep overtook him again, and the realm of unconsciousness embraced him like an old friend.

But finally, after what seemed like hundreds of tries, his eyes finally fluttered open, expecting to find the familiar All-Might decorated surroundings of his room.

But instead, what stared back at him was an overwhelming amount of pale white. Everything from the bed-sheets to the walls, to the ceiling, to even the cast on his hand was white.

Wait, what? When had he broken his arm? He stared, glaring at the hard material that was wrapped around his appendage as he tried to recollect his admittedly extremely hazy memories.

It was his mother who first noticed his awoken state, as he heard a soft yelp of "Izuku!"

Even his mother's demure voice felt overwhelming to his ears. It was only then that he became aware of the constant whirr of machines, and the incessant beeping around him.

He blinked, his head moving sluggishly to meet the sound of his mother's voice.

He saw her hunched over the bed, blinking away tears as she leaned in and very gently hugged him. It was unlike the bone-crushing hugs he liked to receive, but even that soft contact caused his bones to creak in protest.

His mother let go quickly after noticing his small whine of pain.

"Wh-what happened?" he wheezed out, just noticing how dry his throat felt.

His mother immediately gripped a cup of water that was on a small stand next to the bed, and carefully positioned it against his lips. Sending her a grateful look, he opened his lips and started taking small gulps of the liquid.

His stomach felt full before he even finished half of the white plastic cup, but he felt so parched he didn't really care and finished the entire thing.

He softly cleared his throat, looking up at his mother once again and asking the same question. "What happened?" He was pleased with the fact that his voice didn't crack.

She gave him a sad smile. "You kind of…" Her voice cracked, clearly unable to handle the pain of seeing her child in such a condition. "H-hurt yourself when you saved Katsuki."

"Ah." He wheezed softly, looking at his surroundings once more, his mother watching on in silence, seemingly pleased that he was finally awake.

A knock on the door interrupted the pair's pleasant silence, the small doorknob twisting briefly before a fairly built, middle-aged man made his way into the room, a doctor's coat around his shoulders and a small clipboard in hand.

"You're awake." He smiled. "That's very good." His amicable smile put the pair at ease, even as it began to fade as he flipped through the small clipboard in his hands. "Now, as glad as I am to see you up and about, I do have to brief you on your injuries."

From the way his mother's smile faded, he guessed she'd already been told.

"Your most extensive injury is…" The doctor waved his hand, moving it towards Izuku's cast-wrapped appendage, "your arm." He cleared his throat before going through the small list. "We had to administer a quirk suppression serum to be able to treat it, and once that was done, we saw just how damaging using your quirk was to your body."

He saw the doctor's brows raise just a bit before he began speaking once again. "Your radius and ulna have been snapped in multiple spots near the center, and the recoil of using your quirk has caused microfractures over the rest of the bones." He read a bit further before continuing. "Your humerus also suffered a plethora of microfractures, and your shoulder had been knocked clean out of its socket."

"Your skull had a few minor fractures, too." He raised his gaze from the clipboard, staring over Izuku's prone form. "Young man, you're very lucky that you didn't sustain any spinal injuries."

The green-haired boy let out a sigh he didn't know he had been holding in.

If that had happened… God, he would have probably been bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

"With that all being said… you should be fine, but please, do **not** use your quirk like that ever again. Just because you got relatively lucky this time, doesn't mean you'll be quite so fortunate the next."

Izuku suddenly found the blanket very interesting, as he was unable to meet the doctor's gaze.

"For your mother's sake," the doctor added with a soft tone, "I'll notify the nurse that you're awake, you must be starving."

After Izuku nodded the doctor excused himself and quickly slipped out of the room.

Silence descended on the mother and son pair once more, but Izuku was quick to break it. "Is Kacchan okay?"

Much to his delight, she gave a small nod. Even if he had gotten as busted up as he had, he was still glad that he had saved his best friend of many years.

After a small moment, his mother piqued up, suddenly remembering something. "Oh!" she exclaimed, startling Izuku. She reached for her purse, rummaging through it for a few seconds. "All-Might left you this!"

His heart began racing at the prospect of what All-Might would have left him. An autograph? A poster? An autographed poster?

Wait, what was that beeping? Oh, it was the heart monitor. He was getting way too excited.

Much to his surprise though, his mother pulled out what seemed to be a small envelope containing a letter. ' _Well,'_ he mused inwardly, _'It certainly isn't a poster.'_

She leaned over and gently placed the letter in Izuku's lap. He reached for it, his bones creaking in protest as he lightly gripped the letter. He brought it to his lips and used his teeth to tear a hole in the side of the envelope.

It took him a moment to shake the letter out, and his mother watched on inquisitively as he carefully unfolded it and began to read.

It was short, and simple. Nonetheless, his eyes still scanned over it obsessively, taking in every detail of his hero's handwriting

The lettering was large, and the spaces between the letters were even larger. Fittingly, All-Might had written out the letter in English, and amusingly enough, he wrote everything in capital letters.

It was fitting, that loud, confident booming voice echoing in his head as he read the letter.

" **YOUNG MIDORIYA.**

 **I WISH TO TALK TO YOU IN PERSON. WE HAVE SOMETHING IMPORTANT TO DISCUSS ABOUT BOTH OUR FUTURES**.

 **ALL MIGHT** "

Right beneath his signature was a hastily scrawled out number.

Izuku nearly had an aneurism, _again_.

All-Might wanted to talk to him!? What for?! What could possibly be so important that he couldn't simply write it in the letter!?

Most importantly, however…

HE HAD ALL-MIGHT'S NUMBER!

"Mumbling." His mother's voice halted his hushed speaking. The teen gave he an apologetic glance. She returned his gaze with the same expression. She didn't like to do it, but he had requested her to stop him whenever he started that habit of his.

He sighed. He really could never get rid of that habit.

* * *

 _With Katsuki_

The blond felt frustration shooting through his veins, his head throbbing painfully. All these years of training, all those countless hours slaving away training his quirk. Were they all for nothing?

He gnashed his teeth together, eyebrows knitting as he raised his hands up towards his face. He glared at his palms, his irises floating over each and every scar and burn mark that littered his heavily calloused hands.

The largest one was at the very center of his right palm, it was the first one he had ever gotten in fact, from his first use of the quirk.

Over time, the large burn marks, and the circular scars began to narrow. Drawing to a finer point as he gained more precise control with his quirk, and his skin toughened, only scarring at the very center of where he set off his large explosions.

His skin, which was once tender and soft, was now rough and calloused, having thickened considerably from the extensive training he had put his quirk through.

He had told Izuku that his quirk was "nearly perfect", and that was true. His quirk _was_ damn-near perfect. It was powerful, both in an offensive sense, since it could be used for large scale attacks, and a supplementary sense, since he could use his explosions to shoot himself over large gaps.

His _quirk_ was powerful. But _he_ was too weak.

His pride stopped him from admitting that to the green-haired boy, but it didn't mean that it wasn't a prevalent fact whenever he tried to use his quirk.

For many years, setting off the smallest explosion would result in his hand getting harshly burned, getting covered in blisters. He showed up to school with bandaged hands more often than not, but he brushed off his classmates' and his teachers' concerns, simply grinning through the pain.

The only reason he was able to use it without the threat of a third degree burn was because he trained his hands almost religiously. He used to dunk them in boiling water, so he could get used to the blistering temperatures. He set off explosions hot enough to make tears stream down his face, but it was all to toughen his skin.

And he had succeeded in doing so. But in the wave of that success, he discovered another weakness in himself.

His body couldn't handle the recoil. Small explosions would send his arms flying back, and large explosions were so powerful that they had popped his shoulders clear out of their socket on more than one occasion.

Activating his quirk was easy. He could oxidize his sweat and cause explosions in the blink of an eye. Training his body wasn't so easy. It was a long and arduous task, but one that had paid off.

Sure. His quirk seemed strong and simple to use to an outsider, but they didn't know how many times he had bit on the inside of his cheek to stop himself from screaming in pain from the searing heat of setting it off.

Just when he felt confident, just when he got to a point he could proudly, and truthfully, say he was strong, he felt weak all over again.

He was too weak to stop the villain.

He wasn't fast enough to avoid him.

Nor was he strong enough to blast him.

And the thought of that made his blood boil. The fact that his best friend-a brother to him-had landed in the hospital due to his own inability to act was unacceptable.

Deku had been in the hospital for three days, unconscious.

He was told time and time again that the most important quality of being a hero was the spirit of self-sacrifice. Deku, however, took that idea and blew it **way** out of proportion, damnit!

He felt the edge of his vision begin to cloud, and he felt a slight stinging in his eyes. Fucking hell, was he crying?

He let out a yell of frustration and slammed a calloused fist against the closest wall, cursing loudly once the pain shot through his arm.

Just as the blonde was about to let out a string of curses, the door to his room swung open and his mother stood in the doorway, looking pleased with herself.

"THE FUCK YOU WANT, OLD HAG!?" His voice cracked, and he was pretty sure a few tears were now cascading down his cheeks, even as he glared at her.

Mitsuki's gaze softened as she stared at him. "Izuku?" she asked softly.

"SO!?" He yelled back, using the back of his hand to wipe the tears from his eyes.

"I was worried too, yknow." Wait, was? The fuck did that mean!? "He's awake~" she sang, holding up a hand, showing him the keys that were dangling from her pinky.

"Get changed, fuckface. Visiting hours are almost over."

* * *

The green-haired woman turned to the two young men, who seemed to currently be having a staring match. She opened her mouth to speak, but a dismissive wave from the blond's mother quickly made her stop.

The air between them was so thick with tension that a blunted butter knife could've sliced its way down the middle, each swallowing nervously every few seconds, but not breaking eye-contact. She broke her gaze away from the two boys and quickly returned to chatting with Mitsuki.

Izuku had stayed silent ever since Katsuki entered, and the blond had been equally as quiet.

"Th-thanks." Katsuki finally broke the silence. The green-haired boy was quick to respond with a small nod.

"Sorry," Izuku muttered apologetically.

"You better be, you little shit." Katsuki's eyebrow twitched before the blond sighed deeply. "I'm sorry too."

An incredulous scoff left his friend's lips. "Did the great Katsuk-sama just apologize to me?!"

"Fuck you, nerd!"

Izuku started laughing softly, although a sudden pain in his chest cut him off midway as he wheezed.

"Don't do that shit again," Katsuki commanded angrily. "I didn't need you to end up in the hospital because of me."

Izuku softly shrugged. "You'd have done the same had I been in that situation."

The blond huffed in anger but nodded nevertheless, and the two exchanged a slow fist-bump.

The two weeks he had spent in the hospital after that were admittedly very boring.

His mother made sure to pop in during visiting hours, often spending most, if not all that time just looking after and feeding him.

Katsuki made his presence known daily as well, bringing him all his notes and making sure that the green-haired boy didn't get lost when it came to their studies.

The explosive teen was a better tutor than he liked to admit. Even though he complained about it cutting into his "training time." Part of him still didn't believe that the blond trained. Izuku was convinced that he was simply that gifted and good.

He had even worked up the nerve to text All-Might. That had taken a few days, but he had managed to text out a simple "I'm awake!" to his life-long hero.

He nearly had an aneurism _for the third time_ when All-Might replied with a thumbs-up and told him that he wanted to meet with him in person.

The two exchanged messages daily after that. It was mostly All-Might worriedly asking about his recovery, and making sure that he was eating enough, and things of that nature.

It was unusual to him having somebody worry about him almost as much as his mother did, but he did really appreciate the gesture. The man was also really eager to meet him, for some reason that escaped him.

But finally, after two painfully long weeks, he was now taking slow but confident steps outside of the hospital, his mother holding his uninjured hand in a death grip, making sure that he could put his weight onto her should the extra support be needed.

Only once he had stepped out the front door, he realized just how much he'd missed fresh air and direct sunlight.

He took a deep breath, sighing happily as he allowed his mother to guide him to the car. He idly pulled out his phone, smiling to himself as he saw the All-Might lock-screen. He quickly opened up the contact that he had saved All-Might's number in.

"Out of the hospital!" he texted slowly; using a single hand to text was hard.

All-Might's reply was snappy as usual. "WONDERFUL!" being typed out in bold, capital letters.

"Meet me tonight at Takoba Beach, 8 PM. It is of utmost importance" His mother was sure to have a fit, knowing he was going out the same day he left the hospital.

* * *

The scene replayed over and over in his head, like a mantra. The green-haired young man had sprinted in. The look of panic crystal clear on his face, but his feet had still moved. Midoriya had acted when the heroes around him failed to do so; when _he_ failed to do so.

Midoriya's plan had been reckless, completely based on the assumption that the villain's eyes were a weak point, and, luckily for him, they had been.

Having bought himself a bit of time, he'd momentarily managed to free the blond hostage. Granted, only his mouth had been released from its slimy confines, but those few milliseconds had been enough for him to suck some much-needed air into his lungs.

It was the visage of the green-haired boy's quirk that had shaken him the most, that which had prevented him from acting as quick as he'd needed to.

Its visage had filled him with fear, much like it had years ago. There were a handful of things that made Toshinori Yagi quake with fear, and that damned quirk was one.

He remembered its name as clear as day: Transmutation. The ability to transmute your own body into whatever you desired.

 _That_ _villain's_ words, his monologue had been etched into his memory as if chiseled into stone. He had made sure to explain the quirk thoroughly, laughing as he did while toying with his victims.

He had also done it the last time they fought, just before he had used the quirk's terrifying powers, enhanced with a few other quirks, to tear a hole through his abdomen.

He had been sure that it was going to be the last time he was going to see that damned power; the very one that had also taken his adoptive mother's life. He was sure, that with his last fight with that man, he had destroyed every remaining trace of the quirk that had haunted his memories.

But no, that quirk was still very well alive. And it was flowing through Midoriya Izuku's veins.

While the boy clearly wasn't as experienced with its use as his father was, the transmutation process was the same. That faint glow, and the limbs reconfiguring, the metallic bits creaking as they snapped in place. It was all the same.

His brows furrowed, and his teeth gnashed together. He wasn't even sure if that man was actually his father, but the similarities were certainly there. Those sharp, green eyes, and that curly, wild hair. They were a bit different, and yet, so frighteningly identical at the same time.

Perhaps it was a reach for him to assume that, even unfair to the boy, but he was nearly sure that Midoriya Izuku was somehow related to one of the most frightening villains that had ever lived, All For One.

But that left the bigger question unanswered. If he was truly that man's son, then how come he didn't inherit All For One? Had he even inherited it? Had he inherited all the quirks that All For One had?

That was… a terrifying prospect.

That was why he was so incessant when it came to meeting the boy. He simply needed to know.

The way that he had spoken about his father seemed to indicate that he didn't even know who he was, which honestly wasn't at all out of character for a sociopath like All For One. Had he decided to have a family, before getting bored and abandoning them?

If that was the case, then he had a chance and more than enough reason to step in and show the young boy the righteous path. He could set him on the road to becoming a true hero. He already wanted to be one, but someone his age could still be swayed with ease given the right circumstances. Whether he was the son of a villain or a hero, weak or powerful, Young Midoriya was still a child; a highly impressionable child.

If a villain managed to sink their claws into the boy… that would spell disaster.

A boy with that much power at such a young age would be a frightening villain to face at a later date. The last thing that this society needed was another villain of that man's vast power and intelligence, especially when Toshinori was so close to running out of time.

He wasn't even sure if this was a good idea. To train a random child just because he _thought_ he was related to his greatest enemy? It wasn't the brightest idea, even in his own head.

But the risk was too great. If, by some ungodly chance, he was related to All For One, he couldn't risk that boy growing up to be like him.

It was, what, the hundredth time he had this conversation in his head? But still, unease permeated his being and pooled up in his chest.

Of course, he dared not show his hesitance to anyone, certainly not the young boy. He would still have to, as Recovery Girl liked to say, play the oaf.

He sighed. Midoriya Izuku was going to be his student, not only for his sake, but for the sake of society as a whole.

* * *

Honestly, he hadn't known what to expect when he was asked to show up Takoba beach, but he definitively hadn't expected… this.

All-Might, in his lanky, ghastly form, was found sitting on a disassembled car chair that rested atop a pile of trash.

He had been sitting with his arms knitted together, his chin resting atop the small cradle he had created. His demeanor, which seemed oddly nervous, instantly shifted the moment those bright blue eyes caught sight of him.

He gave him a bright, brimming smile, and in an instant, the thin, deathly-looking man transformed into the god among heroes that was known as All-Might. He struck a pose, each hand moving to nestle themselves against his massive waist.

" **YOUNG MIDORIYA!** " His booming voice was loud enough to reverberate in Izuku's chest.

" **Please!** " The hero began, and used one of his massive arms to casually lift up a discarded refrigerator that was sitting atop a small pile of metal scrap. With no effort at all, All-Might hefted the fridge with a single hand and then promptly placed it on its side, pointing to it afterward, " **Have a sea-GUH!** "

Before he even got to finish his sentence, he had coughed up a glob of blood and deflated, the crimson liquid pooling onto his skin.

"I really should stop doing this," the man spoke, before letting out a few wheezing breaths and sliding onto the fridge that he had just placed between himself and the young, green-haired man.

Izuku could feel the proverbial sweat-drop slide down the side of his face at the sight of the deep indentations All-Might's fingers had left in the metal. His power, it was absolutely insane.

He made himself comfortable on the refrigerator right besides his idol, his heart thumping nervously in his chest. The tall man turned to him, and Izuku let out a small breath to calm himself. Even in his deflated form, the man stood well over seven feet tall. His stature was very impressive, and while Izuku was no slouch either, now standing at approximately six feet, the man still towered over him.

That thoughtful expression made him even more nervous. All-Might parted his lips to speak, but before he could do so, the young man interrupted.

"Why?"

He cursed his nervous stutter.

"What?" The older man questioned.

"Why did you want to meet me in person, All Might?"

"Well, as I said, young Midoriya. It's something important regarding both our futures." He suddenly waved a hand dismissively. "And please, while I'm this form, I'm Toshinori Yagi. Please refer to me as such as to avoid any blunders while in public. The nature of my quirk is supposed to be a secret, after all."

Izuku gave a silent nod, and Toshinori continued, "I came here because I have a proposition for you, something I couldn't explicitly say in a letter."

"Ah?"

"How would you like to be my student and train under me?"

Izuku's brain short-circuited. "Why?" Came his intelligent, not to mention incredulous, reply.

Toshinori smiled and placed a gentle hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Because I see potential in you, my boy.

Most great heroes have tales of heroics from their highschool days, but do you know what all those stories have in common?" He paused for dramatic effect. "All of them moved before they could even think.

"But you, you went a step beyond, you willingly put yourself in harms way to rescue a civilian. And that is the most important trait of a hero. The spirit of self-sacrifice. As heroes, we put our lives at risk every single day to rescue other people, and to put a stop to villainous activity."

He knew his actions had been reckless, that it would have been wiser to simply wait for a hero with a more suitable quirk to rescue his friend, but he couldn't simply have stayed still while his friend nearly died.

Toshinori flexed a thin hand. "You were powerful enough to blow that villain away, but from the looks of it, you weren't used to handling such raw power." He waved towards his broken arm, and Izuku let out a nervous chuckle before nodding.

All-Might flexed an arm, which looked a bit silly in his deflated form, and gave him a grin. "My quirk is the same. It gives me unimaginable power, but my body needs to be strong enough to handle the recoil!"

"Erm," Izuku stuttered out, and All-Might paused. "Your quirk…" he muttered under his breath. "You have One For All, right?"

Toshinori choked once again, hacking up excessive amounts of blood as he coughed. His expression became deathly still, and he turned to Izuku, an intense look in his eyes.

"How do you know about that?" His words had an icy tint to them, and a shiver ran up the teen's spine.

"My father!" he burst out. "He had a small library, and he wrote a lot of books about quirks."

That still didn't explain how his father knew about One For All. All-Might ground his teeth together, having his suspicions all but confirmed about the boy being All For One's child.

"What do you know about One For All?" Toshinori eyed him curiously.

"Well, I know that it's just a quirk that allows you to stockpile energy, or power, and then transfer it over to another user." That was the basic gist of it, from what he remembered from his father's writing.

Toshinori nodded in confirmation. "Is that all?"

Izuku shook his head and continued, "It's an enhancement type quirk that allows the user to channel that excess energy stored into different parts of their body. If it's the muscles, it makes them stronger; if it's the skin, it can harden it; and if it's channelled through something else, like a quirk, then it increases its maximum output exponentially." He was summarising and paraphrasing the heavy details that his father had listed, he couldn't simply start listing off the different ways that it had manifested in all the different users like his father had.

His father, he noticed, didn't seem very interested in the people who'd owned the quirks (which was very much unlike Izuku, who was obsessed with heroes). He was simply interested in the quirks themselves. He listed off the ways that a quirk could be used, and even went as far as to mention how other quirks could be combined with it. That was an interesting subject that he couldn't even begin to fathom, combining quirks together. Perhaps his father was a strategist of some sort?

In the case of One For All, it had been a bit different. His father had devoted eight sections to each "Manifestation" as he called it. He had written on it extensively, noting that the power did indeed seem to get stronger with each time it was passed on. He didn't write out any names, simply listing each user as "Manifestation" and prefixing it with a number.

The power started meagre at first, a small energy boost, and a slight increase in stamina, before growing with each person that had inherited it. By the time it had gotten to its "Eighth Manifestation", the quirk had turned from a "meagre boost" into "overwhelming brute strength" in his father's words.

The way he'd described it being used sounded very similar to his favourite hero's quirk. The power to level buildings with a single punch, enhanced speed, and durability. It seemed to fit All-Might perfectly.

Said pro-hero cleared his throat. Oops, was he mumbling again? "That's not a bad way of putting it, my boy… but I'd appreciate if you didn't go around sharing that knowledge publicly. My quirk is a massive secret, known only to a carefully selected handful of people." Toshinori sighed. "And now you as well."

Izuku nodded wordlessly.

"Do you know who your father is?" All-Might questioned.

Izuku shook his head. "I don't really remember him… and I don't think I want to, either," He added the last part bitterly. "My mother said he's in a coma, having lost against a hero in some big fight." His hands tightened to a fist, and his teeth began to grind together. Izuku didn't like speaking about the man. Just the thought of him made his blood boil.

"When was that?" All-Might asked, a suspicious tone in his voice.

"Around…" He paused briefly. "Five years ago."

Toshinori ran a hand across his shirt, gripping the massive puncture scar that lay beneath. It was around the same time that he had gotten his injury.

"My boy," the blond began. "I think I might have an idea as to who your father is."

Izuku's head snapped towards him. "You do!?" Curiosity was palpable in his green eyes, but seeing All-Might's serious demeanour made his expression sober quite a bit.

Toshinori let out a heavy sigh, strong enough to wrack his frame as he composed himself. "I pray that this isn't true, but all the evidence seems fitting."

Izuku leaned in closer.

"You two look alike, have the same quirk… and your father is a villain, who got into a coma around the same time I got my injury. Conveniently, you don't know what he looks like, but the fact that he has information on my quirk is more than enough evidence for me."

He sighed deeply again. "It might not be my place to say this, but you, out of everyone, have the right to know. I have reasons to believe that your father is a villain that I had previously faced."

He was also one of the greatest villains, if not the greatest villain to have ever lived. He wasn't about to just drop that on the young boy, though.

"Not that it matters anymore," he uttered. "He is in a coma, as you said." He was lying through his teeth, and Toshinori knew it. All For One was very much alive and active, although he was making his presence scarce; even he, out of all people, was having trouble getting much news about him.

Quickly switching the subject, All-Might stood to his feet, quickly inflating to his muscle form as he stared at his young, soon-to-be pupil.

" **Back to the task at hand!** " His voice boomed out once again. " **So how about it, young man? Will you be my student?** " The second question, which echoed loudly in All-Might's head, remained unspoken. 'Will you prove yourself worthy to be my successor?'

* * *

It had taken nearly a month, but finally, Izuku felt confident enough to say he was back to competent quirk usage in the arm he had injured. Having taken off the cast two weeks prior, against the doctor's advice, he'd begun training his quirk immediately after.

He had combined rehabilitation with quirk practice; while he flexed his arm and wrist, he'd transmute random patches of his skin into metal. He needed to be sure he had the precise control needed to perform his complex transmutations before he actively pursued them.

After all, it was one of his complex transmutations that had caused him to be in such a predicament in the first place.

Today, he had finally managed to pass his self-created test. He'd hold his arms up and go through a set of transmutations in a row. Before the first was finished, he'd begin the second one. To an outsider, it would look like his arms contained a strobe-light, constantly shifting between different hues of metal. It was simple in theory, but hard in practice, especially since his previously injured arm seemed to be a tad bit slower than his left.

He had assumed it was a permanent effect of him practically blowing his arm off, but thankfully, with a few hours of rigorous training, he had managed to get his transmutations up to speed again.

Being as eager as he was to prove his worth to All-Might, he had asked to meet the moment he had achieved a result he was satisfied with.

And now, here he was, standing on the dirty shore of Takoba beach, and there was All-Might… flexing his muscles in a ridiculous pose atop a pile of scrap metal.

A brief look of recognition flashed in All-Might's eyes as he saw Izuku's form, but the man didn't react, he simply kept his pose.

Izuku let out a sigh, the top hero always had a flair for the dramatic.

"So…" he began, "Why are we here again?"

" **Because, young man, this,** " All-Might threw his arms out, pointing to the area around them, " **is your training!** "

"…What?"

His answer was a loud, boisterous laugh, and Izuku couldn't help but grin along, if a bot shakily . His enthusiasm and confidence were really infectious.

" **You're going to use your quirk to clear this beach, and while you do so, I will supervise and be drilling you on the basics of becoming a hero!** "

Izuku blanked as he glanced at the area around him. Mountains of garbage and small heaps of metal covered practically every inch of the beach. Was All-Might really expecting him to clear this entire beach!?

" **You have** - **BLURGH!** " The hero violently coughed into his hand, blood seeping out past his lips. He cleared his throat, before raising two hands up, each holding up three fingers. " **Six months** ," he croaked out hoarsely, his voice always strained after one of his coughing bouts.

Six months? That didn't sound bad at all. Hell, he was sure he could clear it in a half that time!

Not being one to pointlessly dally, Izuku's hands began to glow, and much to All-Might's fascination, Izuku's ears started to give off a dim glow too.

His hands and ears began transmuting rapidly, the transmutation on his hands actually being fairly simple, but his ears were another story entirely. He remembered spending weeks disassembling speakers, microphones, and all sorts of acoustic equipment to manage to get the right balance needed to turn his ears into what was basically an ultra-sensitive sonar.

It had taken a minute, but eventually, his right hand had taken the shape of a black, metal rod with a thick sphere at the very end, and his other hand had taken the form of a flat board, its color an onyx black.

He held out the metallic board and then slammed the rod against it, resulting in a sharp clang. He saw All-Might uncomfortably shift in place as he did, the loud sound causing his ears to ring painfully.

The teen closed his eyes as he proceeded to slam the 'hammer' against the 'anvil'. He did this about a dozen times, each strike coming harsher than the one before.

He kept his eyes closed for a few moments after stopping, his hands giving a dim glow before returning to their normal form. A moment later, his ears also shone for a few seconds as he finally opened his eyes.

All-Might was staring at him expectantly, a curious expression on his face. The question was unasked, but it hung clearly in the air.

Izuku was quick to elaborate, a sheepish smile creeping on his lips. "Sorry." He chuckled. "I wanted to map the place out, and I thought this was the fastest way to do it."

The confused expression didn't fade from the hero's face, and for good reason. To him, all what Izuku did was smack two strange-looking metallic pieces against one another.

"You know how bats use soundwaves for echo-location?" All-Might gave a hesitant nod, "It was sort of like that. I transmuted my ears so they'd be able to pick up the echoes that bounced off of anything solid on the beach."

All-Might's brows raised, not from confusion, but rather, from surprise.

" **You know how to do that with your quirk!?"** the blond asked, awe clear in his tone.

Izuku gave a brief nod, grinning in response. "And a lot more!"

This time, it was All-Might who mirrored his grin.

Training young Izuku would prove to be _very_ interesting.

* * *

Toshinori Yagi had to admit, he was impressed. _Very_ impressed.

Day by day, he watched as Izuku cleared out piles upon piles of garbage from Takoba beach, and slowly, the once-popular location was returning to its formal glory.

He had a good amount of strength. While the green-haired young man certainly had the build of an athlete, All-Might hadn't expected that his lean muscles could put out much lifting power. Glad to have been proven wrong, he could lug around dozens of kilograms like they were nothing, and Toshinori could only assume it was training that was somehow related to his quirk.

After all, a quirk like his required a certain amount of physical prowess; one couldn't simply transform his arms into dense metal without the muscle-mass needed to lift and use said arms.

What was more impressive, however, was how versatile his quirk seemed to be. He watched dozens of times as Izuku had used some transmutation to hoist up a stubborn piece of metal, or the time he had broken down an entire scrapped car using nothing more than a crowbar and a hammer. _That_ 'd been an interesting sight to see.

And on certain days when Midoriya was especially eager to please, he'd up and make small items disappear into his hands and either turn them to dust or oxygen. Apparently, he could transmute small items, but didn't do it often because it put too much of a dent in his reserves.

And now, on the eighty-fifth day mark, he came to see the beach completely cleared, Izuku standing proudly atop a filled moving truck, a smug expression on his face, almost as if his face was carrying a sentiment of 'I told you I could do it'.

He had been so excited that he had immediately inflated into his muscle form, hands slapping against one another in an excited applause. Almost playfully, he saw Izuku bow, bending a hand beneath his abdomen as he did so.

The pair shared a laugh afterwards, and the green-haired teen jumped down from his position on the small heap of scrap. The blond saw excitement in his eyes, an eagerness to prove himself once again to his hero. Toshinori had to admit, he loved how unrelenting Izuku's enthusiasm was. In a way, it reminded the man of himself.

He laid a hand on his shoulders, giving the boy a beaming smile. The pair stood, unmoving for a few moments in a comforting silence. It was eventually Izuku who broke it, however.

"So," he said with a big grin, "what's next, Sensei?"

His response came in the form of All-Might's trademarked boisterous laugh, a muscled hand moving to the blond spikes that rested atop his head, and then proceeded to pluck out a single strand of hair.

" **Young man!** " he started. " **I have to say, not only did you pass my test, you did it in a half of the expected time. It's rare that I'm ever impressed, but you… you have exceeded all my expectations!**

" **This test wasn't simply to see if you were worthy to become my student, but also to see if you were worthy of becoming my successor!** **Now, I pass onto you this sacred torch, cultivated by generations. You are worthy of inheriting One For All!** "

He extended the hair out, holding it for Izuku to grab.

" **Now, EAT THIS!** "

* * *

Izuku swallowed nervously, he knew that One For All was passed on by the transfer of DNA, but still. All-Might asking him to swallow one of his hairs was just weird.

But he had, and now, the number one hero was staring at him proudly. It was strange, and the weight of what happened hadn't fully settled into his head quite yet. He was now the ninth user of One For All, so why exactly didn't he feel any different?

Sensing his confusion, the now deflated Toshinori laughed. "Your body has to digest it before you feel anything, my boy!"

'Ah…that makes sense.' He nearly face-palmed. Of course, it sounded so obvious now that All-Might had said it.

"Now what?" he muttered, staring at Toshinori expectantly.

The man flashed him a kind smile. "For today, you rest. We need to get One For All fully integrated into your system before we do any active training again."

Izuku gave a small nod. "Hey, All-Might-"

Toshinori shook his head, raising a hand up. "What did I tell you, young Midoriya? When I'm in this form, please refer to me as Yagi." His student had the decency to blush; the man had repeated that dozens of times over their two months of training, but it still didn't feel natural to him to refer to his hero by first name basis.

"Hey, Yagi-san?" The man gave an approving nod, and a thumbs up. "Would you like to have dinner with my mother and I after training tomorrow?" Izuku saw a very unusual sight. It was All-Might, blushing and frantically waving his arms about.

"I-I-I-" And the green haired teen thought _he_ had a stuttering problem. "I wouldn't want to intrude!"

Izuku tossed him a bright smile. "Nonsense! We'll be more than glad to have you!"

Yagi gave a sheepish smile, scratching the back of his head. "I… I don't see why not."

Izuku's smile brightened upon his agreement. "Great. I'll see you tomorrow?"

The blonde nodded. "Tomorrow."

* * *

Izuku had to admit, he didn't feel much different, even long after he had (reluctantly) consumed the hair that All-Might had given him. Just a general sense of unease, but perhaps that was more due to his nerves than his body going through an actual change as it absorbed the quirk.

He had just settled into bed, resting his head against a rather fluffy pillow before he suddenly started feeling… something. Like a strong surge of heat that was flowing through his veins.

It was a pleasant warmth at first, his blood warming within his veins. Then it become slightly stronger, hotter, until it became unbearable and felt as if it molten lava was flowing through his vascular system.

Similarly, his chest felt hot, like somebody had sunk a red-hot brand against his skin. He wanted to grab hold of the blankets, and rip them off his frame; maybe that would alleviate some of the overwhelming heat, but he couldn't. His hands wouldn't stop shaking. He attempted to move a finger, a foot, anything. But his body wouldn't respond.

It was a frightening feeling, almost as if he was trapped inside his own body, unable to control it, but still able to feel everything that was occurring to him. He could move his eyes, and look around, but not much more.

His body suddenly seized, and he began to convulse. The movement so violent that it had sent him barrelling off the side of the bed, and onto the floor, landing with a heavy thump. His pain only seemed to worsen with the impact.

His arms began glowing, the tell-tale sign of a transmutation, but it was unlike anything he had ever seen before. While his arms were a metallic hue that he was familiar with, it was divided, marred. The spots in his arms where his veins would be located had simply refused to transmute.

Fear coursed throughout his system as they suddenly gave off a dim, red glow. The dim light didn't last long, as his veins now began to glow a radiant, crimson red, the throbbing pain only getting worse in tandem with their brightness.

He laid there frozen, for what seemed like hours as his veins pulsated, the heat getting worse and worse before suddenly, the color of those vein-like markings on his arms changed, turning a faint orange, and then suddenly, a glowing green.

He saw what he swore were arcs of electricity flowing around his arms, curling, and twisting around the appendage, their hue a similar color to the lines on his arms. Then suddenly, everything stopped.

The pain, the burning, it all stopped. He watched in silence as that metallic silver that had consumed his arm began to slowly unravel, unwinding from his fingertips at first, and then slowly running up his arm. It looked like the transmutation itself was being drawn to those glowing veins. And once the metal had faded from his skin, the light show did as well.

His body suddenly felt as if a weight had been dropped on it. He felt tired.

So very tired.

So much that he couldn't help but let unconsciousness overtake him, his eyes fluttering shut, and his head lying limply onto the floor.

* * *

 **AN: Sorry for the long wait, I was going to make this chapter even longer, and include Izuku's training with OFA, but I've decided to break that up into two chapters to not make you guys wait any longer!**

 **Please leave your thoughts.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Surprise! Did you miss me?! I know I've been gone for a while, this chapter has been sitting in my documents nearly completed for ages now. I apologize for taking so long, I'll try my best not take as long with the next chapter.  
**

 **Also, I made a discord! Figured it'd be a way you can discuss the story, or bug me for updates.**

 **/HG7UhEx**

 **Now, on with the show!**

* * *

Izuku let out a small weary sigh as he stared over himself in the mirror, carefully checking to see if last night's 'incident' had left any bruises or traces of harm on his body. From the searing pain he had experienced the previous night, he had expected to see burns all over his body, if not over his arms, then over his chest, the area where the pain had been the most intense.

Much to his relief, he saw that his skin was unmarred, not even a trace of an injury dotting his frame. But just because he wasn't injured externally, didn't mean that he was completely fine on the inside.

Several schematics came to mind when it came to checking on his organs, but he figured 'Thermal Vision' would be the most useful for the time being. He felt fine, but it didn't hurt to check if there had been any residual heat that had built up inside of him.

He drew on his quirk, channeling it into his eyes to begin the transmutation, only to be answered with a massive migraine and a sharp pain in both of his eyes. Grunting, he shut them tightly, but the stabbing pain wouldn't go away. What happened? He had gone through with transmutation dozens of times, completely fine each time; why was this time different?

He opened his eyes, fully expecting to see blood seeping from them in the mirror, but much to his surprise, they looked the same as always. He let out a sigh of relief, and nearly did a double-take once he took in the view of his abdomen in the mirror.

It was glowing. It wasn't like the glow that usually came with transmutations. It looked like somebody had pressed a pair of lightbulbs into his chest. On the left side, directly where his heart was, he saw a green, pulsating light, one that, for some reason, he felt strangely familiar with. The light had tendrils extended out of it, the tendrils seeming to resemble veins, passing through the entirety of his body. His arms, torso, legs; the green-source was anchored deeply into his body.

On the other side of his torso lay a brighter, yellow light that had begun to take on a green hue at its very edges. This one also had tendrils, small off-shoots, nothing spectacular by any means. As opposed to the green one, they seemed to only extend a few inches into his torso.

He raised an arm towards his chest, patting it, but he still saw the strange glowing orbs of light, even through his hand. He could, somehow, see through his body.

His eyes narrowed, and he attempted to focus on the green sphere of light. He saw it shifting unsteadily, spinning in an eternal maelstrom, folding and collapsing upon itself infinitely, making for an impressive scene.

It almost seemed like it was… transmuting?

A light bulb lit over his head; it was his quirk!

It made sense why it seemed so familiar then, and the way it had wormed its way throughout his entire body. The lights, were they representations of his quirk – or, as of yesterday, quirks?

And if the green one was transmutation, then the yellow one was certainly One For All. One for All's light didn't have the chaotic energy that transmutation carried; it simply lay anchored to where his right lung should be, pulsating brightly.

Now that he took a closer look, he realized that there was a tendril of energy extended between the two orbs of light. A connection, one that was barely there, but one that was established nonetheless. Was that what had happened last night? A result of One For All anchoring itself into his body when he already had a quirk?

He looked up, gazing over the rest of his body curiously only to see… something. It was a very dim light, so dim in fact, that he barely noticed it was there. It seemed dark purple in hue, outlining his brain. His eyes narrowed as he focused. The light was faintly throbbing, much like One For All had been, but with every pulsation, he could see tiny bright dots of different colors.

The sight was mesmerizing, looking like a miniature galactic nebula in his brain.

Huh, that was interesting. So not only could he see quirks, he could also monitor his own brain activity? From what he guessed, those tiny lights were probably his braincells, firing of rapidly with each thought.

Before he could dwell on the fact much further, he blinked, and then suddenly, whatever ability her had somehow called upon dispersed.

He stayed silent for a few moments, his brows furrowed in thought. What had that been? Some quirk-o-vision? No, that was impossible, if it was, then he wouldn't have been able to monitor his brain activity.

Or maybe… Just maybe, it was something that had to do with his nervous system. Quirks were physical abilities, and the way transmutation seemed to have nestled its way into every inch of his body, and the way that One For All had anchored itself…

It would make sense, him being able to see his own brain activity, coupled with his quirks. He blinked a few times, trying to summon whatever transmutation he had unknowingly activated by mixing the two quirks, but all he could do was cause himself a massive migraine, and a sharp, stabbing pain in his eyes.

He sighed, eventually pulling himself away from the mirror, and then shuffling off to his room, preparing for his morning run with Katsuki.

* * *

 _Later that day_

Izuku was just getting dressed to go out for his training with All-Might when, suddenly, his phone gave a small buzz, vibrating to notify him he had gotten a text message.

He slipped on his navy green T-shirt, ducking over to give his smart phone a quick look.

Huh, it was a text from All-Might.

Quickly opening his phone, his eyes peered over the message.

" **OUR TRAINING SPOT HAS BEEN COMPROMISED. TRAINING IS CANCELLED FOR THE TIME BEING WHILE I PROVIDE ANOTHER AREA.** "

Izuku's brow raised ever so slightly; he knew that Takoba beach would be a popular local attraction once it had been cleaned up, but this quickly? He had just cleared the area yesterday. Had people already gotten wind of his clean-up?

He tapped a finger against his chin thoughtfully, before picking up his phone and tapping away at the screen.

"That quick? We could use the dojo me and Kacchan train in, if you'd like?"

His phone buzzed not a second later, a thumbs-down emoji being the first thing he saw.

" **WE NEED A LARGER AREA THAT ALLOWS PROPER USE OF ONE FOR ALL. WE NEED NOT RISK ACCIDENTALLY DESTROYING THE DOJO.** "

Izuku gave a small chuckle at the thought. He couldn't properly control One For All yet. Hell, he couldn't even figure out how to call on it alone without Transmutation interfering. The last thing he wanted was to accidentally blow away half the dojo while learning to do so.

"Alright, do you have one in mind? And how long do you think it'd take before we have another training site secured?"

" **THREE DAYS AT MOST. GET SOME TIME TO RELAX, YOU'VE BEEN WORKING HARD.** "

The green-haired young man smiled at that; it had been a rather long time since he had seen Mei. His training sessions with All-Might had unfortunately replaced his time at Hatsume's Babies. Scrolling through his contact list to find her number, he figured he'd simply worry about his new quirk tomorrow.

* * *

 _Two Days Later_

Toshinori let out a small sigh, tapping his thin, long fingers together as he stared over his steaming cup of tea. Looking up, he found Principle Nezu, looking at him expectantly while sipping from his own porcelain cup of green tea.

The blond had come fully expecting Principle Nezu whole-heartedly and eagerly agreeing to his idea. After all, who would turn down a request from the Symbol of Peace? But Nezu had.

His demands, or rather, his requests from the principle were rather simple: he wanted to grant his pupil access to U.A's campus, especially to its plethora of training grounds in order to have a proper field to teach him about One For All.

While Nezu hadn't refused his request outright, he hadn't accepted it straight away like he had expected.

He had a condition, and if that condition was satisfied, then he would grant Izuku access to U.A's campus. Nezu had even offered the assistance of other pro heroes in training and teaching his young protégé.

Nezu's condition was simple on paper, but It was a condition that had a lot of repercussions that Toshinori would rather not deal with. His condition? Sponsor his protégé, effectively allowing him to go into U.A through recommendations.

The downside of that would be that it would, to a certain extent, publicize his relationship with the young man. Even if it would only be primarily known among other recommendation students, news of a student being linked to All-Might would spread like wildfire in no time.

There was a reason why somebody like All-Might rarely publicized his relationships with those around him. A man like him had a lot of enemies; enemies that were depraved enough to hurt his friends and loved ones if it meant getting to him.

Briefly, he considered the possibility of All For One finding out about his relationship with Izuku. Would he be furious? Indifferent? Would he see the young man as another weakness a sadist like him could make use of?

He quickly shook those thoughts away. He hadn't heard any news regarding the man in years, and, for all he knew, as Izuku said, he could very well be in a coma to this day.

He considered his options, running over the pros and the cons in his head once more.

On one hand, sponsoring Izuku could come with great benefits. Access to a proper training ground would be a first, that, and his access to other pro heroes when it came to training would be paramount to his growth.

All-Might was many things: a hero, a symbol of peace, and a man whose power seemed very well unstoppable. But what he was not, was a proper teacher. Truth be told, he had no idea what the proper methods of teaching were. The few months that he had been "training" Izuku was no more than him being a glorified supervisor while Izuku did the lion's share of the work.

On the other hand, while refusing Nezu would effectively stunt Izuku's growth, the young man would be kept safe. His anonymity kept untouched. Toshinori stayed still for more than a moment, his cup of tea long ago growing cold when he parted his lips to speak again.

"Very well." Nezu, who was now on his third cup of tea, quirked a curious brow in response to him. "I accept your offer." Nezu's smile was obviously smug, Toshinori had to give to him. He was an intelligent man-Er, rodent, that knew how to get what he wanted.

The blond let out a deep sigh, tapping his fingers against his lips in thought.

"So, when would you like to start?" Nezu asked with no small amount of curiosity, he was clearly eager to meet his pupil.

"Tomorrow," All-Might uttered. "Does 5 PM sound good?"

Nezu nodded. "I shall have the training area arranged, and a few members of staff gathered to watch over the first training session."

* * *

 _The Following Day_

Izuku felt… nervous. Like his stomach was in knots. Still, there was no lack of eagerness and excitement either. Not only had All-Might found a training field, he had found it in U.A out of all places, and not only that, apparently, the principle and a few members of staff were there to watch his first training session.

He stepped into the large building labelled TDL in big, bold, yellow letters. Immediately, he was met with the sight of All-Might in his muscle form, standing proud with his hands on his hips. Next to him was a… small, white mouse? It had taken a moment to process, but he came to recognize the small creature as the principle of U.A, an animal that had been gifted with a quirk that multiplied his IQ by tenfolds.

He was so taken back by the sight of Principle Nezu that he had barely noticed that All-Might was standing right next to another famous pro hero. A man whose skin was a dark grey, and had a large, chiseled head. The pro hero Cementoss.

He took a quivering breath, his inner hero fanboy screaming at him to go and get an autograph, but he pushed the desire down. Looking around, he realized that there were other pro heroes gathered.

Midnight, Vlad King, and… an orange caterpillar? One with dark, shaggy hair, and eyes that were closed shut. Was the caterpillar snoring? Realizing where Izuku was looking, Midnight promptly turned around and kicked the caterpillar right in its midsection.

'Ouch' Izuku grimaced internally. Getting kicked by that sharp heel must have hurt. The creature took a moment, but eventually tiredly opened its bloodshot eyes.

"Oh?" His voice was faint, but he had managed to hear him. "We've started already?" The orange creature promptly stood up, and only then did Izuku realize that there was a zipper running straight down the center.

Oh.

 _Oh_.

That was a sleeping bag, not a caterpillar as he had foolishly assumed. A thin, scruffy-looking man wearing a black jumpsuit with a scarf around his neck stood up lazily, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. He almost didn't recognize him; if it wasn't for the slitted goggles around his neck, he would have never known that he was face to face with the Erasure hero, Eraserhead.

All-Might cleared his throat to catch his attention, and his gaze swiftly snapped back to the blue-clad hero.

The small suit-wearing rodent was looking at him expectantly, and only then did Izuku realize that instead of introducing himself like All-Might had asked of him previously, he had spent the past few minutes basically gawking at all of the pro heroes.

He gave a small bow to the principle. "My apologies," he began, "My name is Midoriya Izuku, pleased to meet your acquaintance."

The white mouse smiled and gave a small nod as he stared over the green-haired young man.

"My name is Nezu. I'm the principle here at U.A," he uttered simply, and then gave Izuku a curious look. "And before we officially begin your training, I'd like to conduct a little test."

Judging by the way that All-Might's brow rose, it was clear that he wasn't expecting this either. "While I'm sure you're more than worthy to be granted access to U.A on the merit of impressing All-Might alone, I would like to still see your abilities firsthand."

Izuku quirked his head to the side ever so slightly. "What, like a quirk demonstration?"

Nezu let out a small laugh and nodded. "Something like that."

It was only then that he realized Eraserhead was slowly but steadily moving closer towards him, taking his time as he clasped some sort of guard to his wrist, and judging by how bulky the thing seemed to be, he was willing to bet they were some sort of training weights.

"This," Nezu began, extending an arm towards Aizawa, who was settling into a fighting stance, "is your first test. Quirkless hand-to-hand combat."

Izuku grinned at that, feeling excitement rush through him. So, a sparring session, just like the ones he had with Katsuki on a near-daily basis. Fighting a new opponent was bound to be not only interesting but refreshing as well. And having that opponent be a pro hero who specialized in hand-to-hand combat? He was willing to bet this was going to be challenging, even with those training weights clasped onto each of Eraserhead's limbs.

"Now," Nezu promptly spoke, startling the blond man, "All-Might, would you mind giving the two some space?" Letting out a deep, defeated sigh, he gave a nod, and then slowly began to step away, staring nervously at his pupil.

While he had trust in Izuku's abilities, he hadn't expected for this to happen. Nezu was full of surprises.

Idly, Izuku saw Cementoss lower his arms to the floor, pressing his palms against the concrete ground. The ground beneath him and Aizawa shifted, a circle, about thirty feet in diameter, rose up to make a small ring for the pair to fight in.

Eraserhead looked as unimpressed as ever as he spoke to Izuku. "I'll give you three minutes. If you're immobilized, or knocked out of the fighting arena, that will count as a loss."

"Ready~?" A distinctly feminine voice called out from outside the Arena, and Izuku turned to see Midnight with a flog in her hands raised high into the air.

His opponent remained stoic and unmoving, but Izuku gave a small nod, and that was apparently all the woman needed, as she whipped her hand down, the flog making a distinct crack as it whipped through the air. "Hajime!"

Izuku heavily enjoyed sparring to the point that, besides practice, it was the main reason he had sparred so often with Katsuki. It gave him an outlet, a reason to turn off his brain and simply let his body and his muscle memory do the work.

He barely had time to blink before he saw Aizawa charging forwards, those yellow goggles covering his eyes, and his hair floating high above his head. He was fast, faster than Katsuki, even with those training weights weighing him down.

He crossed both of his arms in front of his abdomen, forming a small cross to block the open-palmed strike that was aimed for his mid-section. Even with his guard up, the power behind that strike sent him stumbling back, and Eraserhead didn't even give him a moment to regain his footing before he continued his assault.

His body twisted upon its axis, his movements a blur as he attempted a roundhouse kick that was aimed at the green-haired boy's head. Izuku reacted in the only way he could, dropping to his knees with a painful thud against the concrete floor, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding in as the kick passed a mere two inches above his head.

Aizawa was too fast for him to find any flaws or openings in his form. So he did what he could do at that moment, springing up from his crouch, he charged into Aizawa's abdomen, slamming his shoulder against the slender man's stomach. The man let out a small grunt, skidding back a few feet before he grabbed hold of the sides of Izuku's waist, and promptly threw him to the side before the boy could knock him over.

Izuku managed to roll onto his feet, a few feet away from the outer perimeter of the circle. Aizawa, seeing a chance to end the fight quickly, charged towards the teenager's form once again. He attempted another roundhouse kick, but Izuku reacted to it quickly, dropping to his feet, and attempting to sweep his legs from beneath him.

Aizawa let out a small scoff; the kid wasn't bad, but it was going to be a cold day in hell before he could stumble him with a move like that. He jumped upwards, his body bending back as he backflipped, slamming his heel into Izuku's chin as he did so.

The teenager let out a yelp of surprise, falling backwards, mere inches from the edge of the circle, his back to the pro hero. Eraserhead skidded to a halt, watching curiously as the brat simply laid still. Huh, had he overdone it? Or was the boy simply that weak? He saw his chest rise and fall, and Midnight still hadn't called the match, so he was bound to be awake.

Dazed, was he? Too bad, Aizawa didn't give his students any breathers. He rushed in once again, cocking a leg back to kick the teenager out of the circle.

But, much to his surprise, before he could slam his leg down, the teenager jumped into action, literally. He sprang up onto his hands, and tossed his body backwards, slamming his foot against Aizawa's face much like he had done not a minute prior.

The raven-haired hero couldn't help the manic grin that crept up onto his features. That cheeky little brat.

Izuku mirrored his expression, a grin creeping up on his face as he wiped the blood that seeped past his lips.

Eraserhead saw the teenager rise to his feet, eager to clash once again, but Aizawa simply shook his head, gesturing towards Midnight.

"Not bad, brat. Not bad at all," he said as he slipped the goggles down to their resting position around his neck. "Don't get the wrong idea, though. I'm not impressed," Aizawa commented offhandedly as he undid the weights that were strapped to his body. "I'm just not outright disappointed either, even if I was holding back."

Izuku let out a small sigh of relief, he truly didn't know if he could keep up with the man if that fight had gone on for much longer.

Aizawa wasted no time in turning his back to the boy, and jumping off the small platform, the red-clad man known as Vlad King being quick to jump onto the ring and take his position.

* * *

"Why?" All-Might exclaimed, looking at the small rodent as he watched the fight between Aizawa and young Midoriya.

The principle let out a small laugh, before giving All-Might a mischievous look.

"I needed to see if he had your spirit," he exclaimed simply, but the answer left All-Might dissatisfied, a narrow line forming onto his lips.

Nezu turned his head back towards the ring, watching carefully. "I'm no fool, Toshi. You've been looking for a successor for years, somebody that could stand the burden of your quirk, somebody that was truly worthy of becoming a hero."

The blond didn't respond verbally, merely giving the principle a nod, wanting to see where he was getting.

"But the burden that boy will shoulder isn't of your quirk alone. He will have to become the next symbol of peace. And judging from how your time in your hero form is steadily decreasing, that time will be very soon."

Toshinori knew this. Of course he knew this. He knew that his reign as the symbol of peace wouldn't last for very long. He had a few years at the very most, and during that time, he needed to raise a hero capable of shouldering the weight that such a position inflicted upon him. A hero that could smile in the face of danger and calm the general public with his presence alone.

"Once he learns how to control your quirk, Toshi, the boy will be unstoppable. But as it stands… Midoriya is vulnerable."

All-Might grit his teeth.

"I need to know what he's capable of, to see what we can improve upon. This test is nothing more than a way for us to see which areas he's lacking in. " Nezu let out a brief whistle as he saw Izuku's foot slam against Aizawa's face.

"Why this then? Why not an entrance exam, or something similar?" the blond questioned.

"If he's caught the eye of All-Might, then we already know he's worthy of joining U.A." Nezu smiled knowingly. "But we need to prepare him for the future. Shota is there to test how he handles being stripped of his power. Too many heroes nowadays are rendered useless when their quirk isn't in the optimal environment. He needs to know how to fight, quirk or not."

"And Vlad?"

"He needs to know how to think on his feet, of course~" Nezu said with a small wink before breaking out into a small fit of chuckles. "And it'd make a good show, wouldn't you say so?"

"If you were going to let him join U.A anyway, then why do I have to sponsor him? Why risk the public finding out our relationship through the recommendations program?"

That knowing smile that stayed on Nezu's lips bugged the blond to no end. If he had a good reason, then why not explain it? Why keep it hidden from him?

"You should be aware of how important a symbol is to the public, no?" He gave a hesitant nod, not sure if he understood where the principle was getting at. "You were the original symbol of peace that the world knew. If you were to retire, or worse, if you are to be killed at the hands of a villain, it would spell disaster to society as we know it. "

"The existence of All-Might, of a Symbol, is enough to uphold a status quo. Organized crime is at an all time low. People feel safer than ever because of you. "

"I fail to see how the boy is involved in that?" Toshinori exclaimed, his curious tone practically begging for Nezu to keep explaining his point.

"When you retire-" Which was probably going to be very soon, All-Might reminded himself. "Society will need a new symbol, a new hero that they can place their trust in. And who would be better than the boy you trained yourself? The legacy you left behind?"

"And what of the villains? Doing that will place the boy in massive amounts of danger!" He grit his teeth. He didn't want to see another one of his loved ones be taken from him, especially not the boy that he had taken somewhat of a parental figure to.

"We need to rip off the band-aid, Toshinori," Nezu uttered, turning once again to watch the fight as Vlad King took his spot in the small outcropping of concrete.

* * *

The man was chuckling even as he took his fighting stance, looking back at Aizawa. "That's the idiot's way of saying he likes you, gaki." Vlad smiled wildly, but Aizawa's expression was stoic as ever, betrayed only by the way his eyes shone with curiosity and interest as he appeared genuinely interested in watching the fight that was about to unfold.

Vlad didn't seem to waste any time in getting prepared for the fight, a few droplets of crimson liquid seeping past his gauntlets, and pooling at the very edges of his fingertips.

Izuku's mind was in a flurry of thoughts. He already knew about his opponent's quirk, Blood Control. Vlad could control his blood, molding it into a variety of different shapes, and even crystalizing it so that it formed spears, shields, or even webbing to incapacitate his foes. It was a very versatile and very dangerous quirk, but one that couldn't be used for too long for the fatigue that came with the blood loss.

What could work against a quirk like that? While he could certainly use Air Cannon to keep him at bay, the transmutation took too long to form with all the safety mechanics and the intricately moving parts it contained.

He didn't have enough time. He needed something simple, but something that would also give him enough reach as to not get caught up within Vlad's attacks. Because the pro hero, much like Eraserhead, was an expert in incapacitating his foes.

Telescoping limbs? Spring-like limbs? Perhaps a combination of the two? That… didn't sound too bad actually. Telescoping limbs would give him the extended reach he desperately needed, while Spring-like limbs would add a little more "oomph" to his punches.

His arms began giving their usual iridescent glow, but before he could finish the schematic, he heard the distinct crack of a whip and "Hajime!" being called out again.

Well, fuck.

He had just barely transmuted the outer inch of his skin into metal when Midnight had called the fight, with the inner mechanics of his transmutation still unfinished, he doubted he could win. He just needed to buy himself enough time to complete his transmutation.

He snorted inwardly, this was starting to feel a whole lot like the sludge villain incident. But instead of having to save Katsuki, he was saving his own skin.

The small trickles of blood quickly magnified, a tidal wave of crimson leaking past Vlad's gauntlet, and crystalizing around his arm to form a large, pointed spear of hardened blood.

The Blood Hero charged in, not giving his form much thought; a straight forward, clearly telegraphed attack. Vlad didn't need to do much, only to check if the boy would freeze up when confronted with a deadly quirk. Much to his surprise, Izuku hadn't dodged, nor had he side-stepped his charge.

Instead, he had balled up that metallic hand into a fist and slammed it right against the tip of his crystalized spear. The tip shattered like glass, sending fragments of blood clattering all along the floor.

Well, well, the brat really wasn't all that bad after all. He could tell, of course, from his height, and the way the boy was built that he could carry power behind his punches, he just didn't know the boy could hit THAT hard.

Vlad carried a grin as he cocked that very same arm back, the crystalline fragments of blood rushing up to meet his shattered spear and reforming it. This time, Vlad made sure that the atomic structure of his crystals was more organized, making them stable, and that much harder.

Metal slammed against blood, and this time, the spear's form held solid, grating against Izuku's hardened skin.

Those green eyes widened, and the blood hero's grin widened in tandem. "What, you didn't think I was just going to let you off easy, did you?"

'No'

Immediately, he scrapped the idea of transmuting the two combined schematics. If this wasn't strong enough to even put a crack in the blood-spear, then what could?

Vlad saw a chance, and he took it. That brief moment of surprise that had caught Izuku off-guard was all he needed to secure his victory. More blood shot out of his gauntlet, moving forwards, and wrapping around Izuku's arm. Vlad's pupils momentarily narrowed as he willed the blood to crystalize, trapping his opponent in his grasp.

Izuku was getting pushed back. Even with those weights on him, Vlad King still had the superior upper body strength, and now his feet were scrapping against the floor helplessly as Vlad inched him closer and closer to the outer edges.

'No!'

He tried coursing transmutation to his legs, but with his shoes on, he wouldn't be able to transmute something effective in time.

Vlad's toothy grin widened as he saw panic begin to settle onto the green-haired teenager's features. He pushed harder, moving him faster towards the outer edges.

Only a few more feet.

'No!'

He needed more power! Something! Anything! He tried smashing his metallic hand against those crimson crystals that had coalesced around his arm, but he didn't put as much as a scratch on them. Vlad had learned his lesson, and he wasn't about to underestimate the boy again, and give him an easy way out because he hadn't properly crystalized his blood.

One foot.

'NO!'

He wasn't going to lose his chance, damnit! With only one thing he could now do, Izuku threw his arm back, tearing down all the mental obstacles that he had placed on One For All.

The Blood Hero grinned, a shield of blood quickly being formed on his other arm.

"Give it up, kid."

This was his one and only chance. He channeled as much as power into his arm as he could, and slammed it forwards.

"SMASH!"

His arm hadn't even made contact with the muscular hero before he was sent flying, that crystalline structure shattering into millions of tiny pieces as he was sent shooting out the circular arena.

The dust around the arena was kicked up almost instantly, a shockwave permeating from where he had thrown his punch, and spreading throughout the large training hall, making a few of the pro heroes around stumble from the sheer volume of the wind rushing at them.

Izuku's eyes widened in shock, a stabbing pain shot throughout his arm, and tears quickly began to sting at the edge of his vision. He looked down, even with all the metal that he had reinforcing his arm, it was still bent back at an awkward angle, the bones inside clearly broken.

Although… From what Izuku could see, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

He blinked away a few tears, and then heard a loud ' _crack'_. His neck jolted upwards, looking to the location of the noise to see that his opponent had slammed against the edge of the outer wall, being buried deep into the wall, a spiderweb like crack forming around him.

He looked around, turning to All-Might, who was now giving him a sheepish smile. "I might have forgotten to tell you that your body might not be able to handle the power of One For All at 100%, yet."

Izuku could only groan, frustration and pain flowing throughout his arm. "And this!?" He exclaimed, pointing at his broken arm.

Nezu jumped up from nowhere, starling both of Izuku, and All-Might "We call recovery girl, of course!"

* * *

Izuku had to admit, trying to master One For All was more challenging than he had thought. After so many years of training with his original quirk, he thought using the second would be a breeze. He would merely have to apply what he had learned, and as simply as that, he would master One For All.

But doing that hadn't been as easy as he had expected

He didn't need to hold back when it came to using Transmutation, he merely had to restrict his quirk to the area that he needed to transmute.

While he could apply that to One For All, the problem was, if he channeled the entirety of his quirk into a specific limb, he'd end up breaking it, much like he had done during his first use of the power.

So the first two weeks of "Training" with All-Might had been spent meditating. Trying to find the right amount of power that his body could handle without being damaged in the process.

Eight percent.

That was all his limbs could handle before his bones began to creak in protest, and his skin began to get singed by the arcs of lightning that surrounded his body whenever he summoned the power of One For All.

Today though, they were trying something different.

He had suggested that he used transmutation first, to reinforce his limbs with metal before he channeled One For All through them. In theory, doing so would not only allow him to eliminate the recoil of his attacks, but would also allow him to handle higher percentages of One For All.

Toshinori was staring at him expectantly, a grin creeping onto his lips as he saw both of his pupil's arm begin glowing. Not a minute later, both of Izuku's arms were now mechanical, made entirely out of steel.

The blond gave an approving nod. "Now, my boy. Try using One For All."

Izuku obeyed, his eyebrows scrunching in concentration as One For All flowed throughout him, but stopped right at his shoulder blades, right where flesh had been transmuted into metal. The green haired boy raised a brow, trying once again.

Nothing.

Try as hard as he could, his power felt… Restricted. Like the flow of energy had been met with some sort of dam.

Could it be because of his transmutation? Would the two quirks simply not work together?

His brows furrowed in thought. From what he knew about One For All, it was an enhancement type quirk, one that could multiply the power of the user, and their quirk respectively by tenfolds.

So, why were the quirks refusing to mesh together?

He cancelled his transmutation, starting over from the beginning. This time, instead of transmuting his entire arm, he kept the transformation exclusive to his skin, a metallic coat forming on the entirety of both his arms. Channeling One For All once again, he quickly began to realize what his problem was.

One For All was, at its most basic, energy. Energy needed a path, so that it could flow. Transmuting the entirety of his arms into dense metal had effectively blocked off his quirk's pathway. The energy simply couldn't occupy metal.

He wondered though, remembering the green arcs of lightning that seemed to surge whenever he used One For All, would it flow through metal if the metal itself was conductive?

His transmutations were usually made up of Titanium; The metal had high strength, a decent amount of toughness, high corrosive resistance, and to top it all off, it was even less dense than iron, allowing his transmutations to be fairly light weight. But, Titanium was also a terrible conductor, something that he had actually considered while picking that certain metal, he didn't want to turn into a lightning rod if he somehow came across somebody with an electricity quirk, after all.

He shook his thoughts away. Today was to test to see if he could reinforce his limbs, and how much of One For All he could handle while his arms were reinforced. He would have to worry about changing his metallic composition in the upcoming days.

He could feel One For All flowing under his metallic skin. He slowly dialed up the percentage, feeling his bones creak in protest, but it was unaccompanied by the usual ache that came from his skin. The titanium coating on his arm had effectively insulated his skin from the electric burns that usually came with using higher percentages of One For All.

His arms began to tremble at the thirteen percent mark, jittering unsteadily. He attempted to correct that by transmuting his bones into Titanium as well. Grinning in satisfaction as he saw the shakiness in his arms stop. He slowly dialed up the percentages on One For All once again. His arms remained steady until sixteen percent. Feeling a light ache in his muscles once he raised the percentage even more, he decided that sixteen percent was a good stopping point.

By using the power of transmutation, he had effectively doubled his limit. Izuku looked up, grinning at his mentor.

A small smile tugged at Toshinori's lips, "How much?" He said, with no small amount of eagerness in his voice.

"Sixteen." The green-haired teen replied, and he saw Toshinori's brows briefly raise in surprise, before a wide, proud grin crept onto his lips.

" **Impressive!** " The man was so excited that he had unintentionally went into his muscle form, his beige cargo shorts, and his white shirt bulging out, threatening to tear against his muscular form.

" **That is a very big milestone to cross, because once you go past fifteen…** " He chuckled. He flexed his right arm, and cocked it back, readying for a punch. " **Cementoss?** " He tilted his head in the pro hero's direction.

The Cement Hero, who usually accompanied them in their training sessions, tilted his head in All-Might's direction, looking to where his eyes were pointed before nodding, and extending his hands to the floor. Cement rushed in a wave about twenty feet away from All-Might, forming a perfectly rectangular slab of concrete, ten feet high, and about five feet wide, it was the usual 'target' that All-Might used in training sessions.

However, instead of the man rushing towards that wall of concrete, All-Might remained still, his feet planted firmly against the floor. The blond slammed his arm forward in a punch, and Izuku's throat suddenly went dry as he saw the wall that Cementoss had constructed explode, chunks of concrete flying everywhere.

" **You can do this!** " All-Might grinned, turning towards his pupil.

Deku blanched as he realized that his mentor had destroyed the wall with wind pressure generated from his punch. The blond stepped closer, patting an affirming hand onto Izuku's shoulder. " **Now. Your turn!** "

He saw Cementoss grin from the sidelines as he once again slipped his hands to the floor, the chunks of concrete that All-Might had sent flying liquidizing, and then converging once again, reforming the wall.

He cocked his fist back, planting his feet firmly to the floor. He breathed in, concentrating to channel his quirk through his arm, and then slammed his arm forwards, jolting in surprise as he saw a spiderweb-like crack form in the very center of the concrete slab.

Midoriya turned his gaze to his arm in surprise, and All-Might let out a boisterous laugh at the teen's surprise. " **I used about thirty percent to demonstrate!** " The man exclaimed " **Something that you'll be able to do eventually!** "

He saw the man gesture to the Cement Hero once again, this time, a plethora of different sized concrete slabs began to form around the arena. Target dummies to practice his new-found abilities on.

" **Now that your new limits have been discovered!** **It's time for more training!"**

* * *

Aizawa had agreed to spar with him. Something that had initially excited him, being able to use his quirk against a hero, to see how he could match up against a pro. But… Quirked sparring with Aizawa wasn't as fun as it initially seemed to be.

He thought the difference between their physical prowess wasn't too major, after all, during the initial sparring session, Izuku had managed to get a few solid hits of the pro hero. But, what he had forgotten to account for, was the fact that Aizawa had been using training weights.

The moment that the battle would begin, Aizawa's quirk would activate, giving him no time to channel his transmutations. He realized there were brief openings, times that the pro hero's hair would fall momentarily, before rising once again, but those were few, and far in-between, and even then, Izuku couldn't exactly capitalize on them when they were literally a split second, quite literally, blinks of an eye.

He didn't expect training his new quirk to be so… Frustrating. On paper, there was absolutely nothing wrong with that way that he used both of his quirks. He'd channel Transmutation first, hardening his skin and his bones, and then afterwards, he'd channel One For All just briefly enough to get an attack in, and then cut off the flow of power.

The problem was, that transmuting his body, and the channeling process took time. Time, that as Eraserhead had painfully drilled into his head, he couldn't afford. It was a weakness, an opening.

While his full power was nothing to scoff at, if a foe caught him off guard, he wouldn't have the proper time to react. He was still vulnerable.

While training with All-Might had given him confidence in his abilities, his twice a week sparring sessions with Aizawa made sure that he stayed grounded. After all, nothing was more humbling than getting absolutely destroyed in hand to hand combat while your opponent was barely even trying.

He only had what, six weeks? to brush up enough on his new power to properly display how far he had gotten. From what he had been told, while the recommendation students wouldn't have to go through with an entrance exam, they would still be tested, a display of power to show why they had earned the admiration of a pro hero.

And seeing how it was All-Might that recommended him. Well, Izuku was nervous, he didn't want to disappoint the man that had seen so much potential in him.

His thoughts, and his nerves had gotten the best of him, they always did when he found himself walking to TDL. But training was a good way to clear his mind, he could simply focus on his quirk, and let his usually busy mind get some rest.

But, he hadn't expected the first thing he saw when he stepped foot into the training building to see the space divided in half, the further section of TDL being occupied.

Outside of Aizawa, who only apparently had so much free time because he had decided to expel his entire class, and All-Might, Izuku rarely got to interact with other people from U.A. Students would show themselves occasionally in the training area, but none would go out of their way to speak to him, especially when they saw how concentrated he was when it came to using his admittedly destructive powers.

He was curious though; what quirk could possibly require half of the massive training ground that was known as TDL? And why did it require it to be so… Strange?

The arena could only be described as a mess. Random geometric shapes constructed out of cement stuck out of random points in the arena. There were also pillars sticking out from every direction, tilted in odd angles, there were even some jutting out from the walls.

At first, he assumed it was some sort of speed training, somebody training their quirk and body to adapt to different types of terrains. But from the way the objects were so closely knit together… It didn't seem possible.

Maybe it was some sort of size-manipulating quirk? Somebody with the ability to shrink their body could very well slip past those tight spaces… But there was some areas that would be hard to climb over.

Izuku tapped a hand against his chin, wondering just what quirk would be required for such an arena. He didn't have to wonder for too long, however, as something, or rather, someone, quickly came to answer his unasked question.

A head stuck out of a concrete pillar a few feet from Izuku, bright blue eyes glancing at him curiously. "Hey…" The de-attached head spoke out, "You're not a U.A student!"

Resisting the urge to scream out the mantra of 'What the fuuuuck' that was going inside his head, the teen replied. "I'm…" He took a moment to find the right words. "I train here." He spoke out hurriedly. "With All-Might!"

"Oh!" A look of recognition crossed the head, "Midoriya, right!?" He spoke out enthusiastically. "There was a rumor going around, but I didn't think it was true!" He chuckled to himself, before his eyes widened in a look of surprise.

The rest of his body suddenly popped out of the concrete, giving Izuku a look at his blond hair and his… naked body.

"Togata Mirio!" He extended a hand out, eager to introduce himself. He looked on, curious to see why Izuku wasn't taking his hand. It was only then that he realized where his gaze was pointed. "…Oh." He promptly sucked himself back into the pillar he had permeated through.

"My bad…" He uttered sheepishly, "Give me a second?" The green-haired teen turned around, and Mirio hurriedly darted out of the wall, grabbing for his gym clothes which were nearby.

Once he was dressed, he extended a hand once again, a full grin on his features. "Togata Mirio!" The teen let out a small chuckle before taking that hand into his own, the two sharing a small hand-shake.

"Midoriya Izuku!"

Although the introduction was… Rather awkward, Izuku seemed gladdened by the prospect of making friends with a U.A student.

"Sorry for taking up so much of your space. Principle Nezu was very insistent on me training here today for some reason!"

Izuku gave a brief smile, following it up with a dismissive shake of his hand. "It's okay! It doesn't bother me, I have more than enough space."

Mirio laughed briefly, before staring at Izuku in excitement. "I have to introduce you to Sir Nighteye!" He exclaimed with a grin.

"S-Sir Nighteye!?" He cursed his stuttering, "The pro hero that was once All-Might's sidekick!?" Matured or not. At his very core, Izuku knew that he was still as much of a hero fanatic as he was when he was a child.

The blond nodded, that grin still etched onto his features. "The very same! I think he'd be very excited to see All-Might's student!"

Right on cue, Izuku heard the distinct metallic creak of the doors being opened, and swiftly turned his head to glance at whoever had stepped through the door. A formally dressed man with impressive stature stepped through the entrance, clad in a formal, light-grey suit. The man expression, much like his features, was decidedly sharp. If not for his impressive stature, and his brightly colored hair, Izuku would have thought Sir Nighteye looked rather unassuming.

He saw a kind smile etch itself onto the man's features, but that smile quickly disappeared as the man got a good look at Izuku's own form.

His eyes widened momentarily, a look of disbelief briefly crossing Sir Nighteye's face before his eyes quickly narrowed down to a fine point, a furious glare being sent his way. Anger was palpable in his expression, and Izuku's throat suddenly felt very dry.

The world around him felt oddly still, but each step that the man took seemed to echo as loudly as a drum in Izuku's ears.

He heard a door swing open, and he let out a breath of relief as he turned to see the ghastly form of his mentor stepping through the metallic doors on the opposite end of TDL. All-Might and Sir Nighteye both stopped in unison. Their gazes seeming to drift up to meet one another.

Izuku excepted to see a smile on both of their faces, a reunion between old friends, but the expression on their faces was anything but warm. All-Might had an uncomfortable smile on his lips, while Sir Nighteye's features remained sharp, his lips tightened into a thin line.

"A word?" The green-haired man broke the silence, and Toshinori nodded, the pair awkwardly moving to the side to have a proper conversation.

* * *

"So," Sir Nighteye began, pointing a hand back to their two pupils, who had both shrugged off the awkward encounter between their mentors, and were now chattering excitedly. "Mirio had spoken to me about rumors going around the school… How a middle-schooler was given special permission from the principle to train in U.A, under the number one hero."

Toshinori merely offered a smile, unsure where his previous sidekick was going with this.

"And he's…?" The question remained unspoken, but All-Might answered nonetheless "My successor, yes."

The green-haired man let out a mirthless chuckle, "Fate is ironic, isn't it? Who knew the boy you would choose to succeed you would look so much like the man that made you need a successor in the first place…" His tone was filled with venom, bitterness seeping through after years of no contact between the previously inseparable pair.

An equally mirthless chuckle escaped past Toshinori's lips. "If you had told me back then that I would be training his son, I wouldn't have believed it either."

Sir Nighteye burst into a bout of laughter at that, "I'm glad to see you haven't lost your sense of humor!" He commented, but his smile quickly disappeared as he saw the serious expression that was firmly planted on Toshinori's lips.

"You…" He gasped out. "You're serious!?"

A nod was all he got.

Sir Nighteye's body convulsed in shock. That was impossible. There was no in hell that All-Might would be training the son of his greatest enemy to be a hero.

Did All-Might even know what he was doing?! How could he be sure that this wasn't just some elaborate ploy from All For One? He wouldn't put it past the man, he had manipulated and brainwashed his way to the top of a criminal empire once upon a time.

It was All-Might and him that had dismantled that empire, working together, they had put dozens, if not hundreds of his associates behind bars. Even in their final battle, All for One had claimed that merely killing All-Might wouldn't satisfy his thirst for revenge, he intended to break his spirit long before his body broke.

And with All for One being nearly two centuries old, if there was one thing he had in abundance, it was experience. He had worked his way up to the top of the ladder with ruthless proficiency. He knew how to break his opponents, both physically and mentally.

Sir Nighteye had thought All-Might was safe with he landed the final blow… But to know that the man had sired progeny? And All-Might had so foolishly given away One For All to them?

Urgency flooded through his system and his nerves seized up as he realized the danger that All-Might had put them in. With his father's quirk, and All-Might's, the boy would be unstoppable.

If he truly was a villain, he needed to be stopped, now. While they still had the chance.

He knew he was jumping to conclusions, that all of his thoughts could be some paranoid fantasy, but when it came to a matter such as All for One, he took no chances.

His legs blurred into movement, surprising All-Might as he charged towards his student. Izuku had seen him coming, but Sir Nighteye was fast, too fast for his body to properly react. Mirio jumped away in shock as his mentor wrapped his fingers around Izuku's throat, hoisting him up into the air, and bringing him face to face, initiating eye-contact, and activating his quirk.

He needed to know what would become of the boy's future.

Mirio saw anger, and confusion overtake Midoriya's face, and he had similar feelings flowing throughout him as well.

Sir Nighteye couldn't even see Izuku as he channeled One For All throughout his body, ready to use his magnified strength to pry off his fingers. His eyes were glazed over. But before Izuku's hands could fully extend to grip his arm, Sir Nighteye had dropped him, a faraway look in his eyes.

He glimpsed All-Might approaching before he suddenly doubled over, his glasses clattering to the ground. He clamped a hand over both his abdomen, and his mouth. But as much as he attempted to will down his nausea, it had won out in the end.

He collapsed to his knees, his hands now both being used to steady him as not to fall over as he puked, evacuating all of his stomach's contents after his foresight had shown him what was in Izuku's future.

Long after his stomach had been emptied, he kept on dry-heaving, nausea and chills shooting through his spine like electric shocks.

"Sensei!/Nighteye!" He heard Mirio, and All-Might call out to him at the same time, he was still gagging when he felt Mirio's hands slip beneath his shoulders, and steadily pull him to his feet.

"What did you see?" The skeletal blond uttered, worry clouding his features.

He cleared his throat. His legs were still shaking. He needed to get himself together!

"A hero…" His voice was hoarse. What he had seen… The future would not be kind to one Midoriya Izuku.

* * *

 **AN: What did you think? Please leave your thoughts!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: This chapter is completely unbeta'd. So apologies if it's a little rough, I'll edit and tidy it up soon!**

* * *

Sir Nighteye's expression had calmed, his eyes narrowing as he looked towards the green-haired teen that he was gripping not a few minutes ago. It had taken several minutes for the man to calm his rapidly beating heart and steel his nerves once more.

The things he had seen, the first few snippits, they had all seemed so normal at the start, random conversations with his classmates, training, a few competition-based battles here and there… It had all been so normal, so typical of an upcoming Hero that it made what happened all the more horrifying.

His stomach rolled uncomfortably, and the man tried his best to suppress his gag reflex as the visions of what would happen passed over his brain.

Izuku was going to be a great Hero, that much he knew. But he needed to be ready for what the future held for him, and thus, his sudden change in demeanor. Toshinori, who was acting like an anchor to hold him in place, turned to him, surprised once his former colleague started gripping his hand.

The green-haired man moved closer, whispering in his partner's ears, his voice still hoarse from the bout of heaving he had just gone through.

"Toshinori." He spoke simply, clearing his throat to find his voice, "Let me train him."

The blond's eyes widened, seeing the drive fiery behind his past-friend's eyes. Yagi knew he wasn't exactly the best teacher out-there, he was basically winging it when it came to most of Midoriya's training. Somebody like Nighteye training the teen? It would be a great boon to his strength. But, even as his mentor, it wasn't for him to decide.

He extended a muscular hand towards Izuku's direction. "Ask him." He shrugged simply, if his successor wanted training from Nighteye, it would be of his own volition.

Sir Nighteye took a moment to properly stand on his feet once again, but once he did, he immediately approached the boy, and bowed deeply, surprising both him, and Mirio who was standing a few feet away.

"Forgive me," He apologized, quietly at first. Before raising his head and issuing words of apology once more. "I apologize for my actions. I was not…" He paused briefly, trying to find the right words. "-I was not acting as rationally as I should have been."

Mirio was still looking at him like he had grown a second head. Even after his apology, he clearly owed both the young men, and All-Might an explanation of his actions.

"You know of my Quirk, yes?" He questioned the green-haired teen, who gave a brief nod. "I was… Disgruntled, knowing that All-Might had given his… tutelage to a seemingly random young man." He waved an arm out, pointing towards Izuku "I merely wanted to see what his protégé would grow to achieve."

Nighteye forced on a shaky smile, "And I would like to offer you assistance in training-help the future generation grow, if you will."

He saw Izuku grow silent, clearly mulling over the words in his mind. Mirio, on the other hand, had his usual cheery grin, stretching widely over his face. Mirio was also currently bouncing on the balls of his feet, encouraging his newly-met friend.

"Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it!" He exclaimed with each excited bounce, and before long, a similar grin crept on Midoriya's blank features.

"Why not?" His grin calmed to a smile, and Sir Nighteye's lips curled to match that smile with one his own.

Mirio jumped, giving his new friend an excited high-five.

"Perfect!" Sir waved a hand towards Mirio, "We're done for today, but I'll be sure to drop by for your training session tomorrow."

He raised a hand in Toshinori's direction. "I'll be in touch." He uttered simply and walked out TDL with the second-year in tow.

* * *

Today was supposed to be yet another training session with All-Might, but instead, as he came into TDL, he found a sleepier-than-usual Aizawa waiting for him in the raised platform that they usually performed their sparring matches in.

"Aizawa-sensei?" The scruffy looking man turned to him, raising a brow. "Isn't sparring reserved for tomorrow?"

Eraserhead gave a brief nod, before gesturing at the teen to jump onto the arena.

"It was supposed to be." He answered, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "But All-Might wanted me to keep you busy while he and Sir Nighteye discussed the details of your training."

The green-haired teen looked around, and sure enough, his blond mentor and the green-haired man were sitting opposite one another, a few stacks of paper spread haphazardly on the surface of the table. It looked more like a interrogation rather than a discussion, Sir Nighteye would ask a handful of questions, and then write the details down as Toshinori spoke. As the green-haired man did this, he would occasionally switch over to another stack of papers, writing another thing down in them as well.

Midoriya didn't miss how proudly and exuberantly Toshinori spoke as he detailed his training, and his growth. He didn't miss the way that Sir Nighteye's brows furrowed disapprovingly as he quickly jotted down details, either.

Izuku would have kept observing the pair if it wasn't for Aizawa suddenly rushing him, and aiming a kick at his solar plexus, a manic smile on the scruffy looking's mans face. Izuku only had time to cross his arms over his chest before the kick impacted, sending him skidding back a few feet.

"Villains won't give you any breaks during combat. Focus." He spoke simply, his eyes glowing a dim red underneath those goggles.

Izuku's lips curled into a similar grin, and then two quickly rushed at one another.

* * *

"Yagi…" The greenette started, massaging his aching temples as his sharp eyes scanned over the papers in front of him once more. "I'll put this as kindly as I possibly can…" He sighed and adjusted his glasses. "You're a moron."

Toshinori, who was smiling widely up until that point, grimaced.

"You went about training him the wrong way. Instead of using One for All as it should have been used, as an enhancement quirk to his natural abilities, and his primary quirk, you instead somehow managed to convince the boy that Transmutation is an accessory to One for All, when it should be the other way around. "

"His quirk's potential is downright limitless, it can quite literally be everything, but instead, you reduce it to nothing more than a hardening quirk to take the burden of One For All."

"While this is working for the boy now, steel can only handle so much before it begins to buckle as well, you should know this better than anyone seeing as how you can punch through buildings." He said with a little smile, but quickly continued once he saw no reaction from the blond.

"There will be a point where Izuku is going to surpass that limit, it might not be today, tomorrow, or even a year from now. But when it does, he's going to be left with two completely different combat styles."

"The boy is sharp, I can see that much from how intricate some of these schematics are, and I'm sure he'll figure it out in due time, but in the position that Izuku is right now, we can't afford that time-"

"Why?" All-Might cut in sharply, "You're in such a rush to train him, to make him stronger, but you haven't even given me a single word of explanation. What is going to happen, Nighteye?" The way those warm blue eyes quickly turned to ice gave his ex-sidekick chills. The man before him was a cripple, a mere shadow of the hero he was before his fight many years ago, but even then, he was the most powerful hero alive. Both in strength, and unmatched ferocity. His glare alone was enough to put Sir Nighteye in a sense of unease.

"Telling you would change nothing." He said plainly—His voice cracking -as much as he didn't want those words to be true. "We can't change what's going to happen, Toshinori. I just want to make sure the boy is prepared for it."

Once All-Might's glare softened into a calmer expression, he continued.

"I have been rather critical of your training methods, yes. But you training the boy has given him something invaluable. The drive, and ambition of a hero."

The greenette's lips quirked into a smile. "You've also imprinted onto him, in a way. I can already your stubborn enthusiasm and hard-headedness in him."

"I can already tell you that he will become a great hero, perhaps even greater than you, one day."

Toshinori's lips immediately curled into a smile, his chest welling up with pride.

"You gave him spirit, and I will give him technique. And I think you remember how formidable of a team we make, no?"

All-Might extended a skeletal hand out towards his ex-sidekick, offering it to him. "Like old times, partner?"

Sir Nighteye couldn't stifle his laughter, Yagi's smile was truly infectious. He quickly extended his own hand towards the Symbol of Peace. "Like old times. It's good working with you again."

* * *

After Midoriya's match, TDL was filled with silence, the only sound echoing throughout the massive building being his own ragged breathing after a few long sparring sessions with Aizawa-sensei.

He still couldn't hope to match the man in combat, but he was getting better, the bruises that Aizawa left him with were becoming less and less frequent, a fact that he was rather proud of.

He spent a few minutes in silence, his breathing calming after only a few moments. He was just about to take a sip out of his water bottle before the green-haired man's voice cut through the silence.

"Izuku," He spoke simply, and the teen immediately stood up, following him to the center of one of the rectangular outlines in the concrete.

Sir Nighteye suddenly stopped, and turned to him, causing Izuku to stand firmly in place.

"Show me your hardening." He spoke simply, and Izuku complied, the teen's fingertips turning a metallic silver, the transformation consuming his arm within a handful of seconds.

His newest member nodded approvingly. "Again, with One for All."

Izuku gave him a small blink before channeling One for All through his arms. Crimson, vein-like ribbons popped up on his arms, and green-arcs of electricity beginning to cackle around his frame.

Sir Nighteye shook his head. "Cancel your hardening and do it again. I don't want your quirks separately, I want them to move together in unison, as if you're using a singular quirk."

The teen raised his arms a little, canceling his transmutation and looking at his arms as they turned back to flesh. He stared at them in concentration as he attempted to exactly what his mentor instructed. Both of his arms began to glow, those crimson veins creeping up on his forearms, with a few blotches of metal appearing on his skin.

Sir Nighteye raised a hand, and immediately, Izuku stopped, canceling the transmutation.

"Don't force transmutation through One for All, or the other way around. Layer them, instead of drawing on your natural reserves for transmutations, I want you to draw on One for All instead."

Midoriya's brows furrowed in concentration once more. For a few seconds, the greenette watched on as Izuku attempted to follow through with his instructions, and then, as if somebody had flipped a switch in the young man, his arms suddenly burst with metallic color.

His eyes bulged out in surprise. "Woah!" An excited grin crept up on the Midoriya's face as he stared at his arms. Most of it had turned into its usual metallic hue, however, there were a few blotches of bare skin still showing through, but the fact that he was able to complete the transmutation so quickly, it was nothing short of incredible.

"Just as I suspected, One for All will help make your transmutation process faster. But your brain will still need to keep up with the added speed." He gave him a restrained smile. "Training One for All alone will only be detrimental to your growth. There's only so much that raw power can do."

Izuku gave a small nod of understanding, and the green-haired man continued

"Transmutation gives you endless possibilities in the ways that you can rescue civilians or face your adversaries. I want you to focus on it from now on. The only downside to such a versatile ability is the fact that it takes time to get going… But as we both have just seen; One for All is the perfect solution to your greatest weakness."

Midoriya's smile grew wide, covering his face, and while Sir Nighteye's was much more restrained, there was a certain glimmer in his eyes that allowed his excitement to shine through.

"Now, I'll leave you to train!"

* * *

Izuku had to admit, he was both impressed, and a tad bit disappointment with how quickly Sir Nighteye had taken to training him.

His training style was… Different, to say the least.

All-Might's teaching was best described as fatherly, he would lay out the general idea of what he wanted done and would gently nudge towards the direction he wanted him to go. It was a bit of a slow process, but it was one that felt gratifying, knowing that all his spurts of growth were of his own accorded, only aided and channeled by his father-figure.

Aizawa was… Interesting. He didn't really train him in much outside of hand-to-hand combat, if you could even consider the constant sparring sessions that more often than not ended up with Izuku sprawled on the floor nursing an aching jaw or a bruised solar plexus. The best way he could describe Aizawa was like a negative feedback loop. He didn't point him in any direction, hell, half the time Izuku didn't even know what Aizawa _wanted_. He would simply let Izuku do as he wished, and anything that he deemed sloppy, or unsatisfactory, he would punish with ruthless brutality.

He wasn't even sure he could describe Sir Nighteye as a teacher. A drill instructor? Perhaps. While he was a bit more easy-going when it came to Togata's training, he was much less lax with Izuku, seeming to be in a constant rush. He wanted Izuku to do things a certain way-his way-and no other. And unlike All-Might or even Aizawa, he didn't care for experimentation, at least, not when it came to training him.

But as much as he disliked his training methods, he had to admit, they were quite effective. His growth under the green-haired man was astounding. Even if he didn't exactly agree with his methods.

Over the course of the last few weeks, his control with balancing his two quirks had gotten better and better, to the point that he could do simple transmutations, like hardening his arms, almost instantly.

More complex transmutations took up much more time, due to the fact that he needed to not only be quick, but immaculate when it came to transmuting his various limbs. The fact that he-for some reason-simply couldn't perfect his schematics no matter how hard he concentrated.

He found himself at an impasse, a wall of sorts. He had two options, either he could call his progress good enough, and hope that he'd one day be able to fine-tune the percentages with One for All to a point that he could quickly, yet immaculately pull of his transmutations.

Or, he could do something that he had been putting off for quite a long time.

Revisit his father's study.

The thought alone left a bad taste in his mouth; Ever since his mother had told him about his father's true villainous nature.

At one point, he had outright refused to use any of his father's schematics for transmutation, the thought of being anything like the man bringing him palpable disgust… But then Katsuki was attacked by the sludge villain, and he had used one.

He had used one, and he had saved Katsuki's life.

But before he could dwell on the matter for too long, he had begun training under All-Might, and even he could notice the smallest glimmer of both fear and anger in his eyes whenever he had used transmutation. He figured, in a way, it was one of the many reasons he was so eager to stop using it.

It why he had practically abandoned developing it in favor of using One for All, when he did use it, it was only to strengthen his body to be able to handle One for All. To shoulder the burden that All-Might had placed upon him.

But, Sir Nighteye had begun drilling using his transmutation back into his head. He had told him something that he already knew, but it didn't make him feel any less foolish when he heard it.

One for All was an enhancement quirk, an accessory to transmutation. Not the other way around.

Being inspired by All-Might was good, copying him was not.

Being what was essentially a weaker version of All-Might would not only make him a target, it would also make him predictable, and a lot of villains would have no qualms snipping his career as a hero in the bud before he got too powerful once the relationship between him and All-Might was made public.

And so, even if begrudgingly, he found himself unlocking the door to his father's office.

A wave of nostalgia flooded his system as his eyes scanned over the mahogany-furnished office once again. Everything had been exactly the same as he had left it, one of his father's notebooks haphazardly spread open in the middle of his desk while a stack of a few others lay waiting to be opened and explored.

His mother occasionally cleaned, and dusted the room, yes. But she hadn't even moved anything around. It was exactly as Izuku remembered leaving it.

The room felt oddly welcoming. When he entered, he wasn't reminded about his father, but rather, about the time he had spent in the room. A twinge of excitement and fascination flooded his chest again, much like it had whenever he stepped in the room before.

Most of the notebooks were written by his father, but now, the information belonged to his prying eyes, and only he decided how to use them.

All-Might's voice rang throughout his head, booming and loud even in his thoughts, reminding him once more that whatever he did was of his own accord, he was his own person, and Hisashi's decisions didn't have to affect his life.

Izuku let out a small sigh, moving throughout the room with a sense of familiarity, his fingers running along the spines of several books, and a few notebooks before he managed to find the ones he was looking for.

Fortunately for him, he didn't have to look for long, as a sideways glance reminded him that they were still resting on his father's desk.

He quickly walked over, pulling the chair out, promptly slipping into it. He pulled a nearby notebook closer, and swiftly flipped it open.

He wished he had the leisure to simply sit down and do nothing but read for a few hours. But he was on a time crunch, he wanted-No, he needed to get better, and it needed to happen quickly. There were only a few weeks left before the recommendation students' meeting; While he certainly could show off his abilities as they were, there was always a part of him that strived for improvement.

His drive combined with his hard-headedness made him unstoppable when he had set his mind to something.

Each of his eyes gave a dim glow in the well-lit room. His quirk's effect was relatively small, but infinitely useful when it came to quickly memorizing notes. His entire corneas turned glassy, his brilliantly colored eyes turned black, his pupils transmuting into a pair of shutters.

He made a quick mental note to, first, catch up with Mei, and then thank her for even giving him this brilliant idea. After all, why would he need to memorize anything if he could use his quirk to emulate a perfect photographic memory?

* * *

Izuku realized he was going through transmutation the wrong way, or at least, he was when it came to enhancing his speed with One for All. His method before was fairly simple, he'd start at his fingertips, (Or at his toes, if he needed to transmute his legs) and then he'd work his way up. It was a slow, and steady method, the same method that most Yaoyorozu's used when it came to the quirk 'Creation' as they had no control over the objects being created after they were extruded from their skin.

But, after sitting down, and deciding to go through his father's notes time and time again, he found no mention of any different methods being used for transmutation. His father also used a method that was very similar to the Yaoyorozu's when it came to controlling his quirk, a fact that had given him quite a surprise when he realized that his father had to actively concentrate to maintain his quirk; He couldn't imagine being able to focus on maintaining something as complex as "Ionic Railgun" while in the middle of a fight.

After getting frustrated, and going through a plentitude of other notebooks, he found the answer he was looking for in a hardening quirk of all things. The quirk was called "Crystalize". It allowed its user the turn their outer-layer skin into graphite. On the surface, it seemed weak, but apparently, the user could activate their quirk multiple times in a row, layering the graphite until it hardened into diamond.

This ability also gave the user the ability to change the shape of their protective shield, through a lengthy processing of layering, the user could apparently chisel a rough chunk of graphite into a sharp, diamond tipped spear.

And then, a metaphorical lightbulb went off in his head; Layering. He could, in theory, use his quirk in the exact same way. Transforming his arm into a rough estimate of what he desired, and then adding in the details through multiple layers, or passes with his quirk. With this, he could eliminate the problem of having to go through transmutation in a slow scanning-motion starting at his fingertips. It could also allow him to use One for All to add much needed speed into his transmutations.

He couldn't help the grin that crept up onto his face as he finally closed the multitude of notebooks scattered on his desk, he'd have to show Sir Nighteye his findings tomorrow.

* * *

Sir Nighteye quirked a brow, Midoriya often showed up to training with a sense of enthusiasm, but he didn't remember ever seeing his this excited. He didn't even bother muttering a greeting before raising both his toned arms for him to see.

"Watch." The young man asked simply, and he complied.

Izuku's arms give out their usual dim glow as he transmuted them, his entire arm suddenly bursting with a metallic hue; Hardening. It was a simple transmutation that Izuku used very often, and from what he had seen, it had even taken him longer to do it than in previous training sessions.

He fixed the teen a questioning look and Izuku excitedly shook his head, before he nodded towards his arms once more, asking him to continue watching.

With another quick activation of transmutation, he saw thin, rectangular openings appear on the arm, but before he could get a good look, Midoriya's arms began glowing once more, even more details being added to the rough exterior.

With each quirk activation, Sir Nighteye's smile stretched just a tiny bit wider, the man immediately understanding what Izuku was attempting to show him, and within the span of a few seconds, the pair were both looking at a fully transmuted set of arms.

The transmutation, while certainly complex, looked to him more like a set of metallic gauntlets than a sophisticated machination. Izuku's arms were a dark grey, accented only by stripes of green that ran all the way up his arm, meeting at the joint of his shoulder.

Before he could ask what the schematic was, a sharp whistling sound caught his attention, the air around Izuku's arms being sucked into the rectangular openings. Ah, Air Cannon.

He couldn't recognize it at first, as Izuku never bothered to keep his digits functional, instead opting to transmute them away so that they didn't get in the way of his repercussive blasts, the boy had also never attempted to actually enhance it aesthetically, usually opting to go for the shiny look of metal.

"I found a new method for transmutation." The boy said proudly, "I even greatly improved upon the previous schematic."

If to only prove a point, the green-haired man watched the young teen point his arms at one of the many concrete targets that littered TDL. The sharp whistling of air suddenly stopped, and Izuku grinned at him before he fired off two successive blasts.

He expected to see the same result from the last time Izuku had shown him Air Cannon, a small hairline fracture.

Air Cannon was strong, one of the most offensively capable schematics in Izuku's repertoire of schematics, but it was nothing to gawk at when he was used to All-Might bulldozing buildings with a single punch.

He had spent the past few weeks training nothing but the speed at which Izuku used his quirk, while he could still-and in fact planned to- keep training Izuku once he started highschool at U.A He wanted him to be as battle ready as possible before he did. As there was a very high chance that Midoriya wouldn't be able to spend enough time training given how extensive and intense U.A's schedule was.

Now, seeing as Izuku had mast-His train of thought cut off as he heard a loud crack echo throughout the training field, his eyes immediately snapping to the target that aimed at, his eyes managing to glimpse the concrete pillar just before Midoriya's second blast had impacted against it.

There was already a large, spider-web like fracture in the middle of the concrete, and his eyes couldn't help but widen as he saw Izuku's second shot blast right through the target, making it explode in a shower of rubble.

He heard another hiss, and his eyes once again snapped to Midoriya as his mechanical arms moved, hearing a few distinct clicking sounds as a round plate near his bicep slowly eased back into place.

"Not bad, huh?" The teen said, a wide toothy grin on his features. "I worked in some recoil reduction into the schematic, allowing me to fire off stronger blasts without damaging my arms." He said proudly, and not so subtly ran a hand against his left forearm. Huh, a past injury, perhaps?

"Impressive," Sir spoke cooly, the reserved tone of voice betraying the large smile that had etched it's way onto his usually impassive face.

* * *

Izuku was so deep in thought that he didn't even register the bowl of Katsudon that his mother placed in front of him. The thought of tomorrow's recommendation ceremony filled him with excitement, but try as he could to get rid of nervousness, there was still a bit of worrywart still left in him.

He would meet other recommendation students, from what All-Might said, they would be a mixture of the top-scoring students in Japan, and talented young students who had caught the eyes of heroes. He wasn't a person with many friends, sure, he had a lot of casual acquaintances, but the only people whom he considered true friends were limited to a handful of people; Katsuki, Mei, and he had even found pleasure in training with Mirio, exchanging tips on how to improve while they sparred.

An emaciated hand found itself comfortingly patting against his shoulder, and he immediately snapped out of his thoughts, glancing towards the smiling face of Toshinori, who was sitting right besides him. "Don't worry, my boy." He said with no small amount of pride. "You're going to blow them all away tomorrow."

Izuku gave the man an appreciative smile, immediately relaxing under his gentle grip, and leaning over to grab some chopsticks.

The blond man let out an appreciative hum as he inhaled the scent of the food, practically salivating already as he quickly grabbed his own set of chopsticks, and dug into his own bowl of pork cutlet.

They both let out a hum of pleasure in unison as the taste of Inko's wonderful cooking hit their palettes, to Izuku, it was his favorite dish, and to Toshinori it was a welcome change from his own rushed, bland-tasting meals. It wasn't to say that Toshinori didn't enjoy food, but when he had lost most of his organs, well, it put a bit of a damper on his excitement for cooking.

Truth be told, the blond was having dinner at the Midoriya's more often than not, as Izuku practically dragged him to his home after every training session he was present at, he enjoyed the man's company, and before long, it turned to habit. His mentor's presence in his home was just an expected daily occurrence. It had taken a bit of time, but Izuku could tell that the man had gotten more comfortable in the Midoriya household.

Izuku let out a refreshed hum, having finished his bowl of Katsudon, and, as usual, Toshinori's slender digits quickly extended, wrapping around the bowl as the man quickly refilled the plate, before pushing it back in his direction.

"Eat up," He grinned, "You're going to need a lot of energy for tomorrow."

The green-haired young man gave him an appreciative nod before digging in once more.

* * *

There was a certain expectation that was placed on anyone born in the Yaoyorozu family. They came from a bloodline that was not only well-known for it's fare share of top heroes, but the Yaoyorozu name was also synonymous with wealth. Their unique quirk desirable for a plethora of different fields, jewelry and precious stoned being the one they were associated with the most.

Diamonds were already one of the most expensive stones there were before the Yaoyorozu's tried their hand at the jewelry business, which made their ventures into the market that much more profitable. Yaoyorozu diamonds became something of a status symbol, after all, they were the pure of any defects, and were flawlessly cut from the moment of their creation. That, coupled with the fact that they were infinitely more rare than any other form of diamonds made them that much more expensive.

Nearly all of the Yaoyorozu family members were born into immeasurable fortune, and with that wealth came a certain burden. They had to act in a way that was befitting of both their status and wealth. When they were the closest modern version of a noble, they were expected to act as such; That meant dressing their very best for any and all events. They also had to act with no small amount of decorum, maintaining a certain air of dignity around them. Yaoyorozu Momo was no exception.

She was not only born into one of the wealthiest families, but she was also one of their brightest minds, her intelligence allowing her to be in the top one percentile in terms of middle-school academics.

The problem that Momo had with her family's 'traditions' is that they were just so… _Boring_. This was supposed to be a relatively casual event, a simple get-together for recommendation students, one that would familiarize them with the many facilities, and the dozens of buildings within UA's walls. They had already toured the premises and were now on a short interlude where they would be allowed to conversate before the next activity, a 'Quirk Assessment' test, of sorts. They were assured it was merely a formality, as whoever had been recommended had already more than earned his acceptance.

Momo had been very excited to chat with her fellow recommendation students, but unfortunately, she had found herself isolated in the corner of the room, casually sipping on a glass of juice while her mother conversated with the other adults.

It's not that she didn't want to conversate with the other students around her, it was just a series of unfortunate events that had resulted in her solitude. The stoic, aloof Todoroki didn't seem to have any interest in conversation, as he has stuck to one word replies thus far. And even if he did, she doubted she could be able to talk with him at her leisure with how closely Endeavor stuck to his son, he hadn't let go of the boy's shoulder this entire time they were here, proudly parading him around the facilities like he some sort of trophy.

The incredibly zealous Inasa, whom she was incredibly excited to talk to, had had some sort of run in with the Todoroki family, and was now sulking silently in the opposite corner of the room. The only two people who seemed to be having any measure of fun conversating where they two other recommendation students: Setsuna, and the boy who didn't seem to have any lips, his teeth stretching freely across his face, she flushed, a bit embarrassed that she hadn't managed to remember his name.

The adults (Besides Endeavor, who seemed to be glaring at nothing in the center of the room) were simply making casual conversation to pass the time, she only heard idle remarks coming from them, nothing that could actively hold her interest.

The principal, who was a bear…mouse…thing? Was standing near the entrance of the room, checking his watch every few moments, he seemed to be waiting for someone.

Momo breathed out a sigh, the only thing that she had going for her at the moment was that they had somehow managed to provide her favorite juice; Peach.

She was just about to reach for her purse to retrieve her phone when she heard the principal's voice as he raised his paws towards the door. "And here we have our final recommendation student!"

She saw a couple of heads turn, even Endeavor seemed interested, as he craned his head towards the door. With no luck thus far, she figured that she wouldn't exactly strike gold with the last person, so she simply glanced at the door.

She nearly spat out her drink when she saw All-Might step through the entrance.

Her expression morphed, her mouth gaping in shock as she saw the herculean symbol of peace casually walk through the doors, his presence only amplified by the fact that he, much like Endeavor, had chosen to come to the event with his hero outfit on.

Before she could get excited at the prospect of talking to All-Might, her thoughts immediately rushed to his pupil. Just how strong was this middle-schooler if he had caught the attention of All-Might, of all people? She didn't have to wonder for long, as Nezu quickly announced his arrival, entering behind All-Might.

"Recommended by none other than the Symbol of Peace himself! Midoriya Izuku!" He chirped happily.

Only that boy-No, the _man_ that had walked through those sets of doors seemed anything but a freshly graduated middle-schooler. Just his height alone was ridiculous for somebody that seemed so young, he was only what, fifteen at most? And yet he was nearly as tall as Endeavor!

While he didn't have the herculean figure of All-Might, it wasn't to say that his musculature wasn't impressive. His well-muscled body was quite the sight for her sore eyes, well sculpted biceps open to view thanks to his black muscle shirt, the shirt's neckline just revealing enough to reveal the beginning of his defined pectorals. Thankfully, the black shirt also hugged his body just enough for her to see that all his abdomen was equally well-defined.

She managed to pull her eyes away from his torso, raising it to his face to see his angular jawline, slim lips, and a somewhat-tanned face that lay peppered in freckles. His hair caught her eyes next, unruly green curls haphazardly strewn about his head. Finally, she lowered her eyes again to catch his sharp, green eyes… That were staring right at her.

Fuck.

His lips curled into a smile.

* * *

Shouto did his best to bite back a wince as he felt Endeavor's grip suddenly tighten around his shoulder. All-Might's arrival had caused quite a stir in the old man if his clenched fist, and the fluctuating temperature was anything to go by. Before the boy could do as much as glance at All-Might's pupil, his father had dragged him away from the center of the room, pulling him to a secluded corner so they could speak, or rather, so that Endeavor could speak at him.

The red-haired man was fuming, his fiery beard only growing in intensity as his anger grew.

"That fucking bastard…" He heard him growl.

"Is that why your numbers took a dive five years ago?" Endeavor's icy blue eyes sharpened, narrowing in thought while Shouto was left to wonder just what exactly about the new arrival had stirred the man so much.

He knew that they had a rivalry, or rather, his father had a rivalry with All-Might. Endeavor was challenging and standoffish in All-Might's presence, even uppity at times, but he was never this furious. As much as he hated his to praise the man he had to call a father, he knew Endeavor was a man of focus, and commitment, the fact that he had spent well over two decades tiring to sire, and train the perfect weapon to surpass All-Might only proved his indomitable will and determination.

He had never once in his life seen his father's fiery beard flicker in and out of existence, Todoroki Enji was always in control. The new arrival had shaken him, or perhaps, it had made him so angry that he could hardly maintain his pyrokinesis.

"We all thought his age was finally getting to him." Shouto's eyes stayed on his father in half-lidded interest while Enji thought out loud.

"His patrol hours suddenly shrank… I thought it was surely to ease himself into retirement."

The fire on his father's boots grew, expanding until it flickered against Endeavor's thighs.

"But, as it turns out, he was also taking his time to sharpen a tool." Shouto could barely hide his flinch as his father's icy glare was leveled at him.

His father's mood suddenly settled, the fire on his hero outfit all returning to its usual size. A smug, overly confident grin on his face.

"But that doesn't matter." Enji hummed to himself in approval, his eyes once again running over Shouto's frame.

"He might have a found a tool and sharpened it" Endeavor spread his fingers apart. "But I forged my own out of Hellflame." His hands clenched to a fist.

"He's been training him for five years at most" Endeavor's tone was acrid and bitter, but his face was morphed into an expression of pride. Enji leaned forward, placing both of his hands on Shouto's shoulders.

"I created you with the perfect quirk, and I will train you until you are unstoppable." He felt the hands squeeze tightly around his shoulders, Endeavor's eyes glinting with arrogance as he gloated.

"You see that… Thing?" He spat with disgust. "He is a steppingstone in your path. You were created to surpass him. Trample him, show him what the offspring of Todoroki Enji can do."

"Fulfill your purpose, Shouto." The Number 2 Hero growled out, the undertone of a threat clear in his voice.

Inwardly, the young Todoroki fumed, but his placid expression never morphed, unyieldingly cold even before the flaming inferno that was Endeavor.

* * *

Strangely, Izuku wasn't as nervous as he expected himself to be. He knew that he had inherited his mother's worrywart nature, and his anxiety made itself known when it came to all matters of things-But his heart beat wasn't fluctuating, his stomach wasn't rolling around uncomfortably in his abdomen, and he found no need to nervously fidget with his fingers. He was oddly calm.

Not nervous, but excited; Excited to meet his fellow recommendation students, and learn about their quirks, surely, they had to be extremely impressive if they had caught the attention of a pro hero while they were so young! He was sure their performance as pro heroes would be outstanding.

The entire atmosphere of the room seemed to shift the moment All-Might had stepped through the doors. The greenette had spent so much time around Toshinori Yagi that he had nearly forgotten the sense of awe that the Symbol of Peace would instill in civilians. Even though the man had walked through the doors first, he was sure he still had on his trademark smile, a grin that could put the most worried person at ease.

The Pro Heroes seemed to casually acknowledge the presence of All-Might, some gave him a pleasant nod, some raised their drinks in a welcoming gesture, and some even moved to shake his hand like they were welcoming a casual acquaintance. The students around his age, however… Well, they weren't nearly as subtle as the pro heroes. Most students had merely spared him a sideward glance before exuberantly marching towards the Number One Hero-And he couldn't exactly blame them, either, he would have climbed over his own mother if it meant he got the chance he got to speak with his idol.

The adults seemed to be the exact opposite-Well, Minus Endeavor, the man had quietly pulled himself to a secluded corner of the room, and currently seemed to speaking with a young man with multicolored hair- While they had quickly greeted All-Might, their attention, and their eyes, quickly settled on the One For All user. He was sure the same question that ran through Sir Nighteye's mind upon their first meeting was also running through theirs: Who was Midoriya Izuku, and what had he done to attract the attention of the Symbol of Peace?

Even if their probing eyes could never hope to match Sir Nighteye's piercing gaze, it still felt a bit odd to be the center of attention in the room. It was only then that he felt a slight flutter of nervousness.

He needed something, or someone to distract himself with, somebody to speak to. It was at the exact moment that his eyes connected with the eyes of a spiky-haired young woman. Or rather, he noticed that her eyes were currently trained on him, wandering up and down his frame.

Izuku took a moment of his own to admire her admittedly beautiful figure. The stunning, Jade colored dress that she happened to be wearing almost exactly matching the hue of his light-green eyes. Her cheeks tinted with a light dusting of pink, but that color soon grew to be a deep maroon once her eyes snapped up to meet his,

"Midoriya Izuku" He said with a smile, one that was quickly matched with a curling of her pink lips.

"I heard" She uttered playful, her blush reducing, but a light tint still clear on her cheeks.

He grinned at her as he gave a casual bow, and while she reciprocated the greeting, his eyes could clearly see that she was more tactful about it than he was. His analytical eyes managing to catch the perfect 45-degree angle that she had bent her waist at, her head inclining as she gave her own name.

"Yaoyorozu Momo."

Izuku's eyes seemed to comically widen at the mention of her name, the young man practically bouncing in place as his inner hero, and quirk fanboy surfaced.

"Wait, really!?" He continued before she did as much as nod.

"I've always wanted to meet a Yaoyorozu! My father-Wait no, My grandfather was a Yaoyorozu-Or could it be his father? It wouldn't make sense-My father's last name is Midoriya, and so is my mother's maiden name-Did my father ta-"

"Midoriya?" The spiky-haired girl blinked at him, and he threw up a hand in apology.

"Sorry, bad habit. I usually mutter when I'm nervous or excited." She gave a brief laugh at his idiosyncrasy, causing him to smile.

"My quirk is actually an off-shoot of the Yaoyorozu's creation!" Momo's eyebrows raised, and her head titled ever so slightly, clearly curious.

"It's called Transmutation! It allows me to change my body's composition. I can't really create anything new, I can just alter what's already there." His smile widened into a grin. He raised his hand, holding it up for the both of them to see. He snapped his fingers, and instantly, his entire handed gained a metallic hue.

"Steel?" She smiled, "For reinforcement?"

He shook his head. "It is for reinforcement, but it isn't steel. It's actually Grade 5 Titanium." He said, a little proud smile etched onto his face.

Momo's eyes widened, her brows furrowing in surprise.

"Titanium Aluminide?!" She asked, and he quickly nodded to confirm her suspicions.

"If you're using it to reinforce your skin… Why not use something like Graphene? Higher tensile strength, and it'd be much lighter, too."

Izuku gave a brief nod. "I had actually thought of doing that in the beginning, but Graphene is sort of… Counterproductive for my purposes."

She blinked owlishly. "How so?"

"Graphene is perfect for reinforcement, sure. But it's an electrical superconductor."

She tilted her head. "And why is that a problem, exactly?"

The greenette opened his mouth to speak, but quickly shut it. Figuring just showing her why would be easier than explaining it. He raised his arm back up between them, activating his quirk so that the metallic hue crept all the way to his shoulders before a crackle of green electricity sounded out, red veins of power materializing amidst metallic skin as he activated One for All. The electricity sparked all around his arm as he held it there.

"My quirk also allows me to convert the fat in my body into energy… But I produce so much that my body can't actively contain it, that's what the green sparks are." That was admittedly a lie, but he couldn't exactly tell a woman he had just met that he had All Might's quirk, now could he?

"I also need my reinforcement material to be thermally nonconductive." Izuku said with a small smile.

"Let me guess," She thought outloud, "So that you won't have trouble if you're against somebody with a heat, or fire related quirk?"

He burst into a fit of chuckles, letting both quirks disperse from his arm. "That's part of it."

"But it's also in case I want to use a flamethrower."

Momo's eyes went as wide as saucers. "A WHAT!?"

Izuku blinked. "A flamethrower?"

"YOU'RE JUST GOING TO TURN ONE OF YOUR ARMS INTO A FLAMETHROWER?!"

He gave her an amused stare. "Yes?"

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW DANGEROUS THAT IS?!" She threw up both her arms in exasperation

"Yeah?"

"WHAT IF YOUR BODY CATCHES ON FIRE!?"

"Stop, drop, and roll?"

"Y-YOU…" Her brow was visibly twitching in annoyance by this point. "ARE INSANE!"

Izuku gave a small smile, his right hand coming up to sheepishly scratch the back of his head; His fingers immediately lost amongst a sea of green curls.

Izuku opened his mouth to speak, but was quickly interrupted by a tall, black haired young man-Huh, the sharp featured teen was even slightly taller than him. He was clad in a matching, greyish-blue tracksuit, his running shoes a faded red, a color that wasn't wholly unfamiliar to the greenette considering his own choice of bright red sneakers.

The pair's eyes met, and the teen had an overly enthusiastic smile on his features. Before Izuku could do as much as mutter out a greeting, the other teen lurched forward, bowing so deeply that his head nearly impacted against the floor-The action so sudden that it gave Momo a bit of a startle.

Just as suddenly as he bowed, he lurched his body upwards so quickly that Izuku was surprised he didn't get whiplash.

"HELLO. I AM YOARASHI INASA. PLEASE ALLOW ME TO PARTICIPATE IN YOUR PASSIONATE CONVERSATION!"

Izuku, used to idiosyncrasies-His best friend was Bakugo Katsuki, for god's sake-simply bowed his head in a greeting. "Midoriya Izuku." He smiled.

Yaoyorozu-After taking a moment to process Inasa's exuberance- bowed with the same grace that she had previously displayed.

"Yaoyorozu Momo."

Feeling a set of eyes on the back of his head, Izuku gave a side-eyed glance, only to find Endeavor and his son actively glaring at him-Well, Endeavor seemed to be doing most of the glaring, an insane look of fury in his eyes. His son-Which had both heterochromatic hair and eyes (Huh, what were the odds?)- Seemed to be simply staring at them, his eyes devoid of any emotion. Inasa also turned to see where the One for All user was looking, only for his smile to suddenly be stifled, a frown marring his sharp features.

So that was the 'Competitiveness' that All-Might had warned him off?

The greente casually tilted his head back to his two conversation partners.

"Huh, how about that?" He said with a small shrug.

Momo tilted her head, "What?"

"Never knew having a stick up your ass was hereditary." Oh god, where had that even come from!? Maybe hanging around Kacchan had finally started to affect him.

Momo gasped, and covered her mouth with a dainty hand, her shoulders shaking as she attempted to suppress a laugh. Inasa was having no such luck, audibly snorting before hiding his upturned lips behind a closed fist, coughing a few times in an attempt to hide his laughter.

Momo seemed to recover first, and quickly smacked his shoulder.

"Midoriya!"

"What!?"

"That was rude!"

"And glaring at me isn't?"

"I-WELL, It doesn't make what you said any less rude!"

"C'mon! It was funny!"

"No it wasn't!"

"It kind of was." Inasa finally quipped in, having sufficiently composed himself, the same exuberant smile now firmly placed on his features.

Momo groaned. "Don't agree with him!"

"See? It was funny."

She gave them both a half-hearted glare, before finally giving up with a sigh. "Okay… Fine. Maybe it was a little funny." She leaned closer, pointing an accusatory finger at Izuku "But that was still rude!"

The greenette snorted, chuckling a little bit to himself. "I can't wait 'till you meet Kacchan, then. He's like a brother to me, but he's a certified asshole."

"Kacchan?" The pair said in unison.

"Oh uh, He's my best friend. We've been friends since we were like three. That's my nickname for him."

Yaoyorozu blinked. "Isn't that a bit too cutesy for an um-An A-hole?"

"Oh, he's all bark and no bite, trust me. It's like having a shark you can pet." Seeing the confusion still on her face, Izuku continued. "He's getting into U.A, you'll get it when you see him." He said with a shrug.

"And how can you be so sure he's getting in, Midoriya?" Inasa spoke.

Izuku chuckled. "He might be an asshole, but he's really smart, and his quirk is amazingly strong."

The exuberant teen let out a whistle, "For somebody training under All-Might to say that…" His enthusiastic smile returned tenfold, the man raising a fist in excitement. "I can't wait to meet him!"

Inasa's enthusiastic smile suddenly sobered. "If I still decide to get into U.A, that is."

Izuku titled his head. "Why wouldn't you?"

"I'm not sure it would be the most… passionate environment." His head gave a subtle nod in Endeavor's direction-Who was still glaring at Izuku, by the way.

The greenette snorted. "Oh, that dickbag? It's not like Endeavor's going to be roaming the U.A facilities."

"I know he's not but. His son, he makes me… Uncomfortable."

"So?" Momo suddenly exclaimed.

"Who cares!?" Izuku quipped. "Even if his personality is just as… Endearing as the space-heater over there, you'll still have to count as friends!"

"Yeah!" The girl blinked. "Wait, space-heater?"

Izuku shrugged. "Space heater, fireplace, same difference!"

She groaned as Inasa snorted in amusement once more. "You're such an ass!"

The greenette gave a small laugh, "But yeah! Besides, who knows, he might not even be in our class."

Yaoyorozu swiftly nodded in agreement, and Inasa gave a slow, hesitant nod. "I'll think about it."

"So, anyway-" Izuku spoke, but a taps interrupted. He turned to the noise, finding the small principle idly tapping a small spoon against his small cup of tea.

"Current, and Future heroes!" He squeaked out, and Midoriya's eyes narrowed, how in the holy hell was he gripping that teaspoon with his paws? "If you would kindly divert your attention to me!"

"We will now be moving onto the Quirk Demonstration segment of today's events! If you would kindly follow after me, and Pro Hero Cementoss, we will escort you to the changing rooms, in which our recommendation students will be given a short period of time to wear something more appropriate for the upcoming physical activities if they so desire. After which, we will be heading to Gym Gamma for the aforementioned event!"

* * *

Izuku was practically _vibrating_ with excitement as they wandered through the familiar large doors of the gym he frequently used to train his quirk. His eyes immediately glossing over the six different arenas that had been set up, five large circular platforms that surrounded a platform of a similar size in the middle.

A few of the platforms were rather bare, a simple elevated platform to properly show off their quirks, while others had a multitude of different options-His had the usual concrete pillars that he used for strength training. But the one that caught his interest the most was the one that had a number of odd geometric objects strewn about it. Differently sized spheres, cubes and pyramids were randomly placed around the arena, and from the gray concrete it was formed out of, he could hazard a guess and say it was Cementoss' handywork.

Who would be the one to use these extremely heavy cement creations? He had no idea, but he was very excited to find out.

Izuku heard the distinct clicking of metal against ceramic once more and turned towards the small Principle, finding him clicking his spoon against his (somehow) still steaming teacup.

"Before we begin, please allow me to explain why we decided to forgo the usual procedure that a recommendation program would follow. For those that don't know, U.A takes its responsibility as the top hero school in Japan very seriously. Our testing and teaching methods are both infamous for their rigorous and strenuous nature. It is precisely those difficult tests that assure that the heroes who graduate from U.A Highschool are nothing short of excellent; I think the results speak for themselves, as our current top two heroes-" He gestured towards All-Might, and Endeavor. "-Are U.A Alumni."

"You are here not only thanks to your academic excellence, but because you also have the ability in you to be the forefront of the upcoming wave of heroes. The pillars that will uphold the new generation." The principle's smile turned eerie and his eyes gained a distinct coldness that they didn't have before. "It is the first, and the quite possibly the last exception that U.A has ever made. Be certain that there will be harsh repercussions if our show of good faith seems to be misplaced."

And just as quickly as his expression had cooled, it returned to its usual warmth, the principle gesturing eagerly to the center arena, teaspoon still gripped firmly in his paw.

"Now, Tokage-san. If you would please do us the honors of leading the Quirk Demonstrations."

* * *

As he watched the multiple recommendation students show off their quirks, Midoriya become acutely aware of how dry his mouth was getting. Not from nerves or anything, far from it, it was just he was having an incredibly hard time keeping his jaw firmly shut. Everybody's quirks seemed so amazing, the various displays of versatility and strength of each quirk making his entire system flood with excitement and adrenaline; He was still very much a quirk and hero fanboy at heart. Seeing Cementoss sink each platform into the floor after it had been used, and then moving another one in it's place in the center was also immensely satisfying.

He had watched in fascination as the first recommendation student used her quirk to split her body into many different segments, showing off the speed, and the fine telekinetic control over the two dozen segments she had broken her body into. Immediately, different uses of the quirk began to run through his mind, such a versatile quirk could certainly grant her a meteoric rise throughout the hero popularity billboards. She was extremely fast, had fine control, and she could theoretically avoid any, and all attacks aimed at her if her reflexes were sharp enough-Even if they weren't, she could apparently regenerate lost body limbs at the cost of physical exhaustion. That, combined with her quirk's potential in being used for spying, information gathering, and tracking. He could certainly see her becoming a top performing underground hero as well.

He was filled with regret for not bringing one of his many quirk analysis notebooks, but he figured he could simply document the things he had witnessed later.

Honenuki Jozu, the beige-skinned teen who was wholly missing his lips, had a rather quick, and simplistic quirk demonstration, simply showing of his ability to soften any object he touched. Nevertheless, his quirk was just as fascinating for Izuku to analyze, while his quirk wasn't nearly as versatile as Tokage's, he could definitely see the strength that such a seemingly simplistic quirk could hold over an enemy. Honenuki had the ability to turn anything, and everything he touched into a trap, allowing him to have a rather powerful form of crowd control, and, if Izuku's analysis was correct, he could also use his ability to negate any sort of emitter quirk that used physical objects-An ability like Cementoss' for example, could be easily cancelled out with a simple touch from the skull-faced teen.

Yaoyorozu was… For lack of a better term, incredible. She had spent the first few minutes of the allotted time they were given creating different objects, both defensive and offensive. She had created a stun-gun, a few pieces of protective gear, a bullet proof vest that was a combination of both Kevlar and Twaron… And a gun. So that was what the printed shooting target was for. Momo showed a surprising amount of grace while holding a gun, emptying an entire ten round magazine with a good amount of accuracy-Even if her precision left a little bit to be desired. And apparently, while she was emptying her first magazine, she was creating the second, showing off how quick she could be when it came to creating small objects. After her display of fire power, she conjured up a metallic Bo staff, and quickly went through a basic Kata that Izuku recognized from his, and Katsuki's time spent at the Dojo. And while her form was passable, her movements were still a bit stiff, her instructors were no doubt the best money could buy, and Midoriya assumed her stiff movements could only be attributed to lack of practice. But even then, with enough technical knowledge, and field experience, she could be an incredibly adaptable, and practically unstoppable hero.

All the participants before Yaoyarashi had shown an impressive amount of skill in regards to using their quirk. But Inasa seemed to be on a completely different level, not only in control, but in strength as well. He had taken the platform which had had all of Cementoss' creations strewn about it. It was only then that Izuku had realized that he had never asked the enthusiastic teen about his quirk, Oh well. Hindsight was always 20/20, but from the heavy objects around the arena… Hrm, maybe some sort of strength augmentation quirk? His nonverbalized question was quickly answered when he saw the wind in TDL begin to gather, spinning into a roaring cyclone in the arena, and in the eye of the storm, stood Inasa himself. Soon after, the objects around the arena began to tremble, before they were hurriedly swept away by the hurricane. That was impressive enough, but Inasa took it a step further. He began moving all those differently shaped objects in perfect synchronicity. A task of immense difficulty given how each object weight and aerodynamic profile, but Inasa was juggling them in the air like it was nothing.

Izuku was smiling so broadly it was honestly starting to hurt. But he couldn't stop the wide grin that was firmly imprinted on his features. Even when his analytical eyes picked apart Inasa's form ravenously for weaknesses that he could exploit in a battle or remove whenever they'd undoubtedly team up together.

And then finally, the son of Endeavor took to the bare platform. The teen leveling him a cold glare the entire time. His quirk display was nothing more than a demonstration of power, and Izuku had to give it to him, his quirk was **strong**. The teen could create ice formations the mere instant his foot tapped against the ground; they were large enough to fill the platform. But Todoroki's final display showed him how truly powerful the teen's quirk truly was. He had turned his attention away from the viewing platform, angling one final ice attack at the most open section of TDL. Ice crackled around him as he stomped a foot to the floor, and threw his arm out in a grand display, a goddamn _glacier_ forming a few feet away from his outstretched hands, a thing trail of ice connecting it to his form. His outer extremities began trembling after that display, his body so affected by the cold that his breath was visible to all the spectators, the early onset signs of hypothermia. Ah, so the more he used his quirk, the more his core body heat dropped? Fascinating. What was even more fascinating, was when Todoroki's other side erupted in flame, red hot blistering fire filling the arena as the teen used his quirk's heat to regulate his own internal body temperature. After warming himself, the bi-chromatic teen pressed his left hand against the trail of ice that lead to the glacier, the ice beginning to melt into water, before being evaporated completely. It was only that he turned back to meet Izuku's eyes. The One for All user was expecting another deadpan, icy expression, but while what Todoroki aimed at him seemed similar, there was also a shift in his dichromatic eyes; A challenge.

Izuku grinned and gave Endeavor's son a brief tilt of his head, emerald eyes alight with competitive fire.

He turned to All-Might, who only gave him a thumbs up, his chest puffing up in an obvious gesture of pride. Izuku exhaled briefly before jumping on the only platform that remained. His arms and legs already shining with the iridescent glow that came whenever he activated his quirk. He walked slowly to the center of arena; taking a bit longer than he should have to finish his transmuting all his limbs before turning to the face audience of pro heroes and recommendation students alike. While he had had plenty of practice, transmuting four limbs at once was still an immensely difficult task to concentrate on.

Izuku smiled confidently as he curled both of his hands into fists. He took a steadying breath before pressing his knuckles together, presenting his now completely mechanical arms to the crowd. The machinery whirred and a faint whistling echoed out, the sounds rumbling pleasantly in Izuku's chest. A handful of clicks later, and his modified air-boosters were ready to go. Ionic Railgun still took a really long time to prepare, but that was fine, he didn't exactly need it for this part of the demonstration. Sending the familiar energy of One for All shooting throughout his system, the green-haired teen shot off. The blast of compressed air shooting out from the back of his calves only helping amplify that ridiculous speed that One for All gifted him; a trail of green lightning left in his wake. His mad sprint didn't slow as he approached the first concrete slab that was eructed, if anything, Izuku's legs seemed to double their efforts as he cocked an arm back, and then swung it forward, smashing it against the concrete. He barely felt his hand connect before the cement shattered; the point of impact pulverized into fine dust while the rest of the slab broke off into large chunks in a shower of rubble.

He doubled back, rocketing off towards another concrete target only to smash through it with brute force yet again. The changes in what he was doing were subtle at first, he'd stop just shy of hitting his target, yet the concrete slabs would still break and explode under the immense pressure that his attacks generated. The differences only became clear once Izuku started making the inches of distances become feet. Stopping completely before he even came close to hitting his target, only for it to crumble underneath the overwhelming air pressure. He rocketed back and forth between targets, stopping further, and further away from his targets each time. His distance didn't seem to matter, as each time he stopped, the slab he aimed at would still erupt in a shower of rubble.

It wasn't long before all the targets had been cleared from the arena, Izuku leaving the once pristine area looking like the aftermath of a rather messy demolition. Most of his targets had utterly decimated; turned into gravel by the force of his attacks. But there were also large, boulder-sized chunks that littered the arena; islands among the barren sea of pulverized stones.

The demonstration _should_ have finished there. But with the challenge that Todoroki had tossed his way, he figured that he might as well up the ante. It would look good-but it would also be incredibly reckless… But hey, why not?

His face gleamed with the light of his quirk as he took to the center of the arena, a boosted jump tossing him up about a dozen feet, his body flipping on it's horizontal axis as he did. His transmuted eyes moved across the arena, scanning for each and every of the large boulders. He had seen All-Might do this hundreds of times, the way that the ground seemed to erupt around him, and jut upwards from the sheer strength of his punches, he let out a deep breath, and hoped that this (honestly stupid stunt) would do the same.

He channeled One for All to his legs, as much as his body could currently take, and kicked off the air itself, shooting down into the arena with the ferocity and grace of a ballistic missile, his arm cocked back before he made impact, and slammed it into the center of the arena.

The effect was immediate, a deafening crunch echoing out in the arena as it cracked and shifted, those large boulders flying upwards into the air-It wasn't perfect, a few had been tossed to the side, but the few that were shot upwards would be enough, they had to be. He jumped back to his feet; air-cannon already primed as aimed his first shot at the first of the quickly descending boulders.

He fired off the first blast, the boulder immediately exploding into a shower of rubble, but he had little time to appreciate his handywork, as his arm immediately shifted away with a series of mechanical noises, clicking into place as he pointed it at the next boulder and shot it down with pinpoint accuracy. The third boulder was also quickly dispatched in a similar fashion, but that left the final hunk of concrete, the one that was now rapidly descending onto his head. Fuck-Not good.

Ionic Railgun pointed straight upwards, and Izuku fired, the beam melting a sizable, gaping hole in the middle of the boulder, but not disrupting its downwards path. Izuku cursed the fact that he had run out of charges on his Air Cannon. He wouldn't be able to charge another shot in time, not before the stone would land against his head. He decided to cut his losses, tossing himself back, and letting the boulder crash right where he was standing, the concrete breaking off into several chunks as it landed against the arena.

Not the optimal result, but not bad, all things considered. Midoriya grinned as he stared at the stunned reactions of his onlookers, taking great pleasure in seeing the surprised look on Shouto's face, and a sense of smug satisfaction as Endeavor looked even more angry than before.

He jumped of the now thoroughly destroyed arena, immediately getting a thumbs up from a proud All-Might, and a heated glare from the Number 2 hero. Midoriya turned, immediately bumping into a widely grinning Inasa, and an equally impressed and exasperated Momo.

"That was so amazing!" The teen's voice boomed.

"And dangerous!"

All Izuku could do was sheepishly rub the back of his head before he heard the distinct sound of Principle Nezu tapping his spoon against his ceramic cup.

"What a wonderful display from all of our future heroes!"

* * *

 **AN: I'm alive! Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, life has been incredibly hectic. I haven't abandoned the story, nor will I, and I'll hopefully have the next chapter ready a lot sooner.**

 **Thank you all for your incredible support and kind words, I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.**

 **Take care and be good people!**


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